The Claus Family Parent Guide

A year after the sudden, tragic death of her husband, Suzanne (Bracha van Doesburgh) decides to move to Belgium with the hope of a fresh start for herself and her two kids, Jules (Mo Bakker) and Noor (Amber Metdepenningen). While spending time with their grandfather (Jan Decleir), Jules discovers that he is the real Santa Claus. But with his health failing, Grandpa Claus needs Jules’ help to deliver all the presents. Will Christmas-hating Jules be up for the task?

Another year of holiday films is upon us, friends. Starting the season off is this offering from Belgium and unfortunately it didn’t do much to put me in a holiday mood. Perhaps I just woke up on the grinchy side of the bed, but The Claus Family lacks the magic I expect from a Christmas story. The two words I’d use to sum up this production are bland and boring. The basic premise, kid discovers the real Santa and has to save Christmas, has been done a million times before and the writers fail to add anything new or exciting to the idea. I appreciate the smaller scale of the story, focusing in tightly on one particular family, but that small scale lowers the stakes to the point that the film lacks any sort of real tension. There are also some major pacing issues which make the runtime a bit of a slog to get through.

This story’s contributions to the Santa Claus lore just create more questions than answers. I have never seen a more inefficient and wasteful system than the one this Father Christmas uses. He only has four elves. Four! To do all the work! That is an OSHA violation if I’ve ever seen one.

On a more positive note, this is perhaps the cleanest live action movie I’ve seen in a long time. Aside from one minor expletive, there’s no negative content of note to be found. There are some sweet messages to be imparted as well, especially around Jules working through his grief over the loss of his father and learning to move on from it. The acting is surprisingly good for such a small production, and the English dubs are high quality. If you just want a simple, clean Christmas movie, The Claus Family might be worth a try. I just can’t imagine that most young children, or even adults, will be entertained enough to sit through the whole thing.