SAVING SANTA 3D [2013 / 2014] [3D Blu-ray + 2D Blu-ray] [UK Release]
The Amazing Adventures Of A Time-Travelling Elf!
Once upon a time, Santa [Tim Conway] operated with just a small workshop and a few elves. But, as Christmas has grown ever bigger, Santa has been forced to innovate!
Now his cleverest elves develop amazing technology, including a hologram to hide the North Pole and a time machine to allow Santa to deliver presents to every home in the world, in just the one night.
Bernard is an elf who dreams of creating such inventions, but his job is to clean the reindeer stables! Yet when Bernard D. Elf [Martin Freeman] creates an amazing Christmas memory machine, his luck might be changing. But Bernard D. Elf’s invention is broken by a curious elf, causing the North Pole’s power to fail and the hologram hiding it to disappear. Now exposed to the outside world, it is spotted by Santa s enemy, Nevill Baddington [Tim Curry], who is determined to steal Santa’s secrets for himself. The only person who can stop them is Bernard D. Elf!
Voice Cast: Newell Alexander (Butterscotch / Mercenary #4), Noel Clarke (Snowy), Joan Collins (Vera Baddington), Tim Conway (Santa), David Cowgill (Mercenary #1), Tim Curry (Neville Baddington), Holly Dorff (Minty / Reporter), Moosie Drier (Tin Soldier #1 / Old Man Elf), Pam Ferris (Mrs. Claus), Martin Freeman (Bernard D. Elf), Jackie Gonneau (Female Santech Elf with Glasses), Nicholas Guest (Blitzen / Shortbread), Richard Steven Horvitz (Orange Haired Elf / Chestnut), Ashley Tisdale (Shiny), David Zyler (Tin Soldier #2 / Mercenary #3), Tom Baker (Santa), Chris Barrie (Blitzen), Craig Fairbrass (Mercenary #4), Katarzyna Laska (Shiny), Ricky Roxburgh (Additional Voices), Nick Simunek (Additional Voices), Terry Stone (Additional Voices), Gregor Truter (Additional Voices), Toby Williams (Nutcracker) and Xavier Alcan (Lutin) (uncredited)
Directors: Aaron Seelman and Leon Joosen
Producers: Anil Samani, Arish Fyzee, Brian Gray, Chris Howard, Chris Rokos, Frank Mannion, John Kennedy, John McKenna, Kristin Dornig, Lee Hodgkinson, Lord Kirkham, Martin Hughes, Max Howard, Mike Diamond, Mike Watson, Nathan Baggett, Nia Syson, Nick Simunek, Paul McKeon, Presley Warner, Ramsay McBean, Terry Byrne, Terry Stone, Tony Jimenez, Tony Nottage and Victoria Itow
Screenplay: Ricky Roxburgh (screenplay) and Tony Nottage (story)
Composer: Grant Olding
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
Subtitles: None
Running Time: 84 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: The Weinstein Company / Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment / Gateway Films / Prana Studios
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘SAVING SANTA’ 3D [2013] is set in a future where the demands on Santa [Tim Conway] have increased so much that he has been forced to employ technology in order to ensure that he can reach every children in one night. Santa has a crack team of elves, whose job it is to invent the necessary items to assist him. He is now the proud owner of a hologram which disguises the location of the North Pole and a sleigh which still uses his flying reindeer, but can now time travel.
The crux of this tale is we are introduced to Bernard D. Elf [Martin Freeman] who narrates the start of the animated film, who is a stable elf who wants nothing more than to become one of Santa’s inventors. Bernard D. Elf wants to demonstrate his memory machine, who he feels to be just the thing, until it malfunctions, and causes the hologram defence to fail, revealing the location of the North Pole to Neville Baddington [Tim Curry] who is the owner of a rival delivery company who is determined to discover the secret of Santa’s success and take over from him. It is up to Bernard D. Elf to use his knowledge of time travel in order to undo his mistake and save Christmas, but will be able to save the day and prevent a time travel disaster.
Drawing obvious inspiration from films like ‘Back to the Future’ and also parallels to the film ‘Groundhog Day,’ as Bernard D. Elf realises he is forced to go back in time repeatedly, reliving and re-experiencing earlier events from a different vantage point. As such, ‘SAVINF SANTA’ 3D may feel a tad too familiar and some people might put their head in their hands when they keep seeing Bernard D. Elf keep making mistakes after mistakes, where you think he is never going to succeed in saving the day.
The film also stars the voice cast of Noel Clarke, Ashley Tisdale and Joan Collins and the voice acting in this production is, as you might expect, pretty good, but sadly it is let down a little by a slightly uninspiring script. The tendency of the characters to randomly burst into Disneyesque song and dance routines in order to explain what should be an obvious moral is quite irritating and unfortunately the songs aren’t really catchy enough to justify their presence.
The animation style is very nice and simple, and extremely colourful and effective, for an animated film which is obviously aimed at a young age group, I am sure the older generation will also enjoy the animated film. The 3D element does enhance everything somewhat, although it is quite basic and it seems pitched at about the right sort of level. ‘SAVINF SANTA’ 3D strength is in picture and sound quality that comes through 100% on this flawless Blu-ray disc transfer.
What doesn’t seem quite so suitable however is some of the content. I am unsure whether children would connect with an evil delivery man, or know much about corporate business matters and there is some question as to whether they would really get the song lyrics, but I suppose maybe none of that really matters, they should sit back, relax and enjoy the 3D animated film. This would still be a good animated film to sit and watch with the whole family and contains plenty of healthy messages about the value of friendship and loyalty, which children will definitely love and enjoy.
SAVING SANTA MUSIC TRACK LIST
A CHRISTMAS WISH (Music & Lyrics by Grant Olding) [Performed by Benjy Norman]
PROSPECTS (Music & Lyrics by Grant Olding) [Performed by Martin Freeman]
AN ELF LIKE ME (Music & Lyrics by Grant Olding) [Performed by Martin Freeman]
DO OR DIE (Music & Lyrics by Grant Olding) [Performed by Ashley Tisdale and Martin Freeman]
SWINGLE BELLS (Song Arranged and Additional Lyrics by Grant Olding)
12 DAYS OF ELEVATOR MUZAK (Song Arranged and Additional Lyrics by Grant Olding)
SOME KIND OF MAGIC (Music & Lyrics by Mark Yaeger) [Performed by Ashley Tisdale] [Background vocals by Rachael Dahl, Jessica Burgan, Benjamin Willan and Vincent Walker]
A CHRISTMAS WISH (Reprise) (Music & Lyrics by Grant Olding) [Performed by Benjy Norman, Tim Conway, Ashley Tisdale and Martin Freeman]
3D Blu-ray Video Quality – The Weinstein Company and Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment brings us this Blu-ray disc that looks absolutely terrific and especially gives a very good 1080p image presentation and of course the 3D is really good, especially with the more dramatic scenes. The 1.78:1 aspect ratio presentation is clean, vivid and overall is very good. Being purposely shot as a 3D animated film, there are plenty of brilliant realistic elements, with careful framing in mind to make the best use of the extra depth associated with the 3D format. Even with the simplest of shots, such as with the foreground frame really seems to give you a real sense of 3D experience. The rest of the images you experience fairs just as well and is very clean, bright and also very detailed. Colours are bright; and especially can sometimes be very bold and the contrast gives some terrific blacks that always comes with the usual 3D caveat. But a lot of critics have said the 3D is not very good, well obviously they are obviously not viewing the same 3D Blu-ray disc as me or maybe they accidentally watched the Blu-ray in the 2D image presentation, because I found the 3D effects had a really very good depth of field and so all in all, this is a really good effort on the part of Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
3D Blu-ray Audio Quality – The Weinstein Company and Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment brings us a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix showcases some truly cool sound design, exploring the entire field for some potent directional effects. Well, just as the picture is absorbing and engaging, so too is the sound, which makes full use of the surround effects to give you some really good effects with the more challenging scenes where lots of action is going on. Dialogue is given frontal priority, though there is some directionality when called for, and it also sounds very natural and distinct never once straining to be heard. The film music score and the songs sung are given decent surround sound making use of all the. On the whole this is a terrific audio track gives plenty of effects to keep you enjoying this 3D animated film throughout the 84 minutes and once again this is a really good effort from Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment.
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Saving Santa Recording Sessions [2013] [1080p] [1.78:1] [4:22] Here essentially is a look behind-the-scene footage of the three main stars doing some of their voice-over work. Martin Freeman plays Bernard D. Elf, Tim Conway who plays Santa and Ashley Tisdale plays Shiny. Although the voice cast recordings are generally quite good, the one with Martin Freeman just goes onto inform us that the likeable actor felt he was not a great choice for Bernard D. Elf, especially when it comes to some rather awful flat as a pancake singing, it really grates on you. It's interesting to see how different cast members sit or stand whilst delivering the dialogue, with Ashley Tisdale looking in particular comfort sitting down and just getting on with it, personally I could not stand her shrill voice. This is an unexpected little gem of a special feature.
Special Feature: Some Kind of Miracle [Music Video] [2013] [1080p] [1.78:1] [2:47] With this music video we get to hear it performed by actress, and ex-Disney star Ashley Tisdale. The song suits the 3D animated film perfectly well, and I'm sure any 5 to 10 year old is the real targeted audience for this music video and of course I know they will love it. It is an upbeat pop-based track set to footage from the 3D animated film ‘SAVING SANTA.’
Special Feature: Why Saving Santa? [2013] [1080p] [1.78:1] [5:49] With this very short special feature, we get to see several crew members talking about the magic of Christmas and the background story for the 3D animated film ‘SAVING SANTA,’ the casting of the voice cast, the characters, the music, and how they all fitted together to bring the story alive and the thoughts behind why they wanted to do this animated film so much. We also again get to see Martin Freeman doing his voice recording session. The crew members that are interviewed certainly show a lot of enthusiasm for the project, and that vibe rubs off to make for a very enjoyable, but sadly a very short feature. Contributors include: Arsih Fyzee [Co-Producer], Max Howard [Executive Producer], Terry Stone [Producer], Leon Joosen [Director], Maggie Rodford [Music Supervisor] and Grant Olding [Composer].
Theatrical Trailer [2013] [1080p] [1.78:1] [2:02] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the animated film ‘SAVING SANTA’ 3D, but of course we only get to view it in 2D.
Finally, ‘SAVING SANTA’ 3D [2013] is a very entertaining CGI animated film, and for the anyone who have seen it, sometimes reminds them of “Back to the future” because of the time-travel aspect. Just like in those movies, Bernard D. Elf sometimes nearly meets himself from the past, which of course gets him into all kinds of trouble. Although the ending is never uncertain, and like usually in such kinds of family-films, this predictability is never a disturbance in ‘SAVING SANTA’ 3D. There are some witty jokes involved and although the chronological leaps might sometimes confuse the smallest and young children amongst us, and the story line always remains rather clear throughout the animated cartoon. Animation-wise it is clear it was a rather low-budget project. It can be easily distinguished from the big players of the industry, but it is still very appealing. The characters are cute enough and they have put enough work into their backgrounds. All in all, ‘SAVING SANTA’ 3D is a heartfelt Christmas animation and certainly deserves an audience, especially on this 3D Blu-ray disc. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
