Richard Curtis is a big name when it comes to heartfelt British comedy, with Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Bridget Jones’s Diary among the massive and still widely beloved hits of his career. He is also no stranger to the Christmas movie; Love Actually is among the last of the classic holiday films. But his writing has a very specific flavor that you could call an acquired taste. Bumbling middle-class characters who are just too darn charming to say what they mean or have a normal conversation are a cornerstone of his creations, to the point that it has surpassed a trademark and become a formula, and his latest cinematic offering, That Christmas, is no different.

Based on a series of books by Curtis and set in December on the Suffolk coast, it follows the stories of three groups of characters in the town of Wellington-on-Sea and the shenanigans they get up to in the run-up to Christmas. It’s a slightly more digestible approach to Love Actually’s over-stuffed narrative, and certainly an interesting approach to a family movie. But for all the charm and innovation that That Christmas is going for, it ends up being a predictable and rather deflated movie that is playing to a much younger audience than it lets on.

What Is ‘That Christmas’ About?

The movie opens with Santa Claus (voiced by Brian Cox) shooting through the sky, propelled by only a single reindeer, over the east coast of England, as he explains to the audience that the following story is that of a particular Christmas that changed his life and those of the inhabitants of this sweet little village in Suffolk. Then he whacks his balls on a rooftop. This is a fairly decent indicator of where the movie is going. We’re introduced to three groups of people: Danny is an only child whose mother is an overworked NHS nurse and whose father is absent; Sam is always fretting about her twin sister Charlie’s wacky antics; and a group of kids whose parents are friends, are left home under the watchful eye of young Bernie while the adults go out to a party. But then a snowstorm blows in, the parents are left stranded, and the kids have to celebrate Christmas alone. Danny doesn’t get the message that school is closed and ends up being taken under the wing of his uptight headteacher, Ms. Trapper, and Sam worries that Charlie’s behavior will get her on the naughty list.

Over the next few days, the hard characters soften once their statutory tragic backgrounds are explored, parents learn to appreciate their kids, kids learn to appreciate their parents, and one big sibling learns to keep a closer eye on toddlers in their care. We even get a fake-out in the third act, but since we know full well nobody is going to die in this merry little family movie, it carries no weight. There are a handful of moments that induce a chuckle, but for the most part, it’s a stale movie that fails to stir any real emotion.

‘That Christmas’s Animation Leaves Much to be Desired
Image via Netflix

Locksmith Animation created That Christmas, and a lot can be forgiven considering that they are a relatively fledgling studio. But the animation on display here is at best mediocre and at worst quite unsettling. Backgrounds and textures are wonderful, to the point that it can be difficult to distinguish real miniature sets from animated ones. The texture of the snowflakes and the waves of the ocean are beautifully done and feel tangible, and wider shots of landscapes and streets look very nice indeed. The fault is in the character design, and how it fits within the world of the movie.

There’s no nice way of putting it, but the characters are ugly to look at. They all have these bulbous noses and flat mouths, and are drawn in a very basic cartoony style reminiscent of the CG animated series of Fireman Sam. But then, in certain shots, their hands look like real human hands. When contrasted with the unrealistic look of the bodies and faces, it all starts to get quite uncanny, with these obviously not realistic character designs taking place in a very realistic-looking setting. The movement of the characters has a strange weightlessness to it, and nothing blends together the way that it should, giving the movie a strange sense of unreality.

Richard Curtis’s Writing Is an Acquired Taste
Image via Netflix

You either enjoy Richard Curtis’s style or you simply don’t. His work is further spread than you might think, Curtis having worked on various long-running British sitcoms like The Vicar of Dibley, and either his style caught on, or he fit right into one that was pre-established. His BBC style of humor is rife in English entertainment, and relies heavily on characters walking straight into glaringly obvious punchlines and audiences finding uproarious entertainment in words like “bottom”, especially if a particularly posh person like Rowan Atkinson is saying it. Once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. That Christmas carries on this grand Curtis tradition, with extra helpings of one of family cinema’s worst modern tropes: the awkward conversation. A kid can’t just talk normally to a girl he likes, or act like a real person would in a somewhat uncomfortable situation. He has to ramble on for a straight minute with “Uh, well, what I mean is… um… do you like wine gums? Cos I like wine gums, and I thought… no, that’s stupid, you couldn’t possibly like wine gums…” etc.

Some people may find this setup endearingly amusing, but to me, it is incredibly grating and instantly sucks any existing enjoyment out of the experience. Similarly egregious is the flat characterization, which allows one trope to each person and calls it a day. The baby sister is small and cute, so she has to yell everything because that’s what cute children do. Nisha’s mother is cynical, so she always has some predictably snippy comments to add to every incident while doing nothing to help. The posh father is bold and no-nonsense, until he is on the phone to Ms. Trapper, who reduces him to a blubbering mess just by existing. There is something to be said for building characters so well that audiences can anticipate how they will react to certain situations, but this takes time and craft, and is not the same thing as giving them a single characteristic and everybody taking turns doing their bit.

‘That Christmas’ Is Aimed at Very Young Viewers
Image via Netflix

The Christmas movie is the perfect set-up for family entertainment – something that people of all ages can enjoy. Of course, some of the more nuanced examples like It’s a Wonderful Life may not be as engaging to children as they are to adults, and some of the more basic will be too childish for adults to really get into. But the point is largely to make a movie that can be watched by a family, with people of different ages and interests coming together to enjoy the holiday spirit. Given Richard Curtis’s background with light, fluffy adult comedies, you’d think that there’d be a little more meat for the adults to sink their teeth into with this one, but it never arrives. If you like annoyingly-written adult characters bitching at one another in ways that are offensive but are never reacted to as such, then this is the movie for you!

But That Christmas seems to be going for such a young audience that even kids the same age as the characters won’t enjoy it. Santa whacks his nuts, and his hip young reindeer talks about it being so cold he has snowballs between his legs. Har-de-har-har. The comedy here is desperately low-hanging fruit that is at times groan-inducing, and this is exactly the BBC humor I’m talking about. It’s so basic and inoffensive that it seems made for either very small children, or easily-amused old people. All it’s missing is the laugh track. The meta implication that the group of small children watches Love Actually is perhaps the funniest thing about it — who could forget the running gag of the naked stand-ins simulating sex throughout the movie?

Of course, there are dashes of whimsy and hastily-constructed resolutions, because all good Christmas movies have to end on a positive note with everybody getting over their differences and loving each other regardless of their flaws. It is a shame that a host of talented actors like Bill Nighy, Brian Cox, and Fiona Shaw can’t make a dent in the material, because it has the makings of a better film. But this is the kind of movie you’d catch on Boxing Day afternoon TV and put on for your kids while you and the other adults do something actually fun.

That Christmas is now streaming on Netflix.

Richard Curtis’s family Christmas animation suffers from poor character design, predictable narrative and a distinct lack of humor.ProsA talented voice cast of experienced comedic actorsSome nicely animated textures and backdrops ConsUgly character designLazy and predictable humorA narrative full of clichés and unendearing characters

In a heartwarming holiday tale, three interconnected stories unfold in a small town during Christmas. Each narrative explores the themes of family, forgiveness, and the magic of the season. From a young couple trying to revive their fading love to an estranged father seeking redemption, the characters find that Christmas has a way of bringing people together and healing old wounds.Release Date December 4, 2024 Director Simon Otto Cast Brian Cox , Fiona Shaw , Jodie Whittaker , Bill Nighy , Lolly Adefope , Alex Macqueen , Katherine Parkinson , Sindhu Vee , India Brown , Zazie Hayhurst , Sienna Sayer , Rosie Cavaliero , Paul Kaye , Guz Khan , Andy Nyman , Jack Wisniewski , Kuhu Agarwal , Bronte Smith , Freddie Spry , Ava Talbot , Rhys Darby Runtime 92 Minutes Expand

Watch on Netflix