A very weird movie

Rating: Null/10 (17 November 2004)

This movie is beautiful on the surface, but it has a very large subtext that is totally ignored by the characters. For example: why are the elves Jewish? They all have New York City accents and they use Yiddish words, and they all have trade mark noses. (I am a Jew). Why are two of the children on the train the very children who would have the biggest doubts about Christmas: the Jerry Lewis clone (another stereotypical Jew) and the poverty-stricken little boy who had never had a Christmas -- completely ignored and only the WASP kid from Minnesota got a Lesson of some very vague kind? Why was the Black girl there, except to heap more unhappiness on the poor kid by burbling about how Christmas is about parties, gifts, decorations and, in fact, commercialism -- and why does she remain clueless when clearly the poor child is made more unhappy by her burbling? Is she the PC version of the vacuous little rich girl?
And why does the North Pole look like North Philly, with Muzak on a 45 rpm record thrown in? Who would relate to that?
I enjoyed this movie for the visuals, but I would not take a child over the age of 8 to see it. They will ask way too many questions and you wn't be able to give them any answers.