The Ultimate Christmas Present (2000)



Movie Title: The Ultimate Christmas Present

Year Released: 2000

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1h 25min

Genre: Comedy

Director: Greg Beeman

Writer: Hallie Einhorn, Michael Hitchcock

Starring: Hallee Hirsh, Brenda Song, Hallie Todd, Spencer Breslin, Greg Kean, John B. Lowe, John Salley, Bill Fagerbakke, Peter Scolari

Review: Allie (Hallee Hirsh) and Sam (Brenda Song) are walking home from school and bemoaning their homework assignment for the evening when they discover a strange machine someone seems to have thrown away. To Allie and Sam's surprise, they find the device can control the weather, and they set it to create a snowstorm that will call off school the next day, postponing their project. The machine works, but too well; they've started a snowstorm that they don't know how to stop.

The Ultimate Christmas Present is another classic Disney Channel Original Movie from my childhood. The Disney Channel conquered Halloween with their DCOM's Halloweentown and Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge, and they've done the same here with Christmas. This movie is silly and absurd. There's a blizzard in Los Angeles, 7-foot tall elves, and a bright and shiny SUV (Santa Utility Vehicle) for delivering toys. What I always enjoyed about this movie is its originality. There's a lot of fun here, that is different from some of your more typical cookie-cutter Christmas films. Watching this back as an adult, I laugh at how ridiculous some of the plotlines are, but I thoroughly enjoy reminiscing on how this as well as many other Disney Channel Original Movies were such a huge part of my childhood. Peter Scolari is hilarious as the deranged weatherman, Edwin Hadley, and I can't help but get a kick out of Santa's elves being portrayed by an NBA star (John Salley) and Patrick from SpongeBob SquarePants (Bill Fagerbakke). This movie is over the top, but definitely worth a watch for the entire family. This is a very underrated Christmas film and I highly recommend it!

Stars (out of 4):
       

Fun Fact: John Salley, who played Crumpet the Elf, is a 4-time NBA Champion. Salley won 2 titles with the Detroit Pistons in 1989 and 1990, 1 title with the Chicago Bulls in 1996, and 1 title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000 (the same year this film was released).



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