Review of Santa Claus Brothers, The

Introduction

Momentum Pictures have released this charming little 45 minute, computer-graphic Christmas fairytale in time for it to be a stocking-filler for the Powerpuff-girl generation. Telling the story of Santa`s best kept secret (his three sons), this is a typically schmaltzy American confection about the true meaning of Christmas. Nothing to do with the Son of God, of course. This is absolutely non-denominational as part of the US media`s attempt to sell Christmas to all faiths, not just the Christians.

Off the soap box. It`s a charming enough fairytale, with Santa, Mrs Claus, the three junior Clauses and a variety of worker elves. One elf has designs on taking over from the old guy with the beard, and therein lies the adventure.

Video

The computer animation of this is pretty rough, being about as basic as CG work can get, but this imparts a cartoony style to the picture which suits the graphic design. The picture is colourful - strong primary colours - and being converted straight from digital master to disc there are no generational issues.

Audio

The sound is a plain vanilla Dolby 2.0 mix designed for television, so nothing outstanding there.

Features

The movie is subtitled. There is a small quiz about the movie and a set of still frame pictures but overall there is little to excite even the most undemanding child. Buy your kid this instead of Monsters Inc. and find out what they mean by a "dirty look".

Conclusion

Overall, this is a stocking-filler release. It`s engaging and it`ll occupy someone for the 45 minute running time, but I doubt if there`s any repeatability in the title. You might get your money`s worth out of a rental.