There’s no one strict format for what makes a Christmas movie, but many of them center around a normal person, maybe a child who has lost faith in Christmas, finally seeing the fantastical and magical world of Santa Claus. The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland turns this on its head by having the already magical Santa Claus (or St. Nick as he is called in this movie) being the one that becomes awestruck when he visits the topsy-turvy world of Wonderland. It reverses the old formula, while still including familiar elements from Christmas and Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Christmas magic has rubbed elbows with fantasy worlds before. L. Frank Baum, the man behind the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, also wrote The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus and couldn’t resist having Santa Claus meet his Oz characters. C.S. Lewis’ Narnia is no stranger to Father Christmas, either, as he played a crucial role in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. But Santa Claus in the nonsensical Wonderland? Does that even work?
The premise of the movie is that the Queen of Hearts, back when she was just a princess, once wrote to St. Nick asking for a bandersnatch for Christmas. When St. Nick finally gets the letter, he is determined to go to Wonderland (despite objections from his reindeer) to deliver her gift only to discover that the Queen of Hearts has grown up and become a bitter and cruel monarch who punishes anyone who celebrates Christmas. St. Nick meets Alice and other Wonderland allies who help him with his mission.
The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland is based on the book of the same name by Carys Bexington and Kate Hindley, which was released by Pan Macmillan just last month. The book’s illustrations take on a life of their own and don’t really resemble the John Tenniel art of the original Lewis Carroll book, which serves as the basis of many Wonderland movies (including the Disney classic). It has both its advantages and drawbacks. Alice has black hair, darker skin, and doesn’t wear her iconic dress. It’s a little generic for her, and the fact that there are things like airplanes in the movie removes her from the 19th century time
period. The March Hare is quite tall and the Hatter wears an upside down teapot under his hat. None of these changes are necessarily bad, but at least the Queen of Hearts has the best design as she is the most important Wonderland character.
Produced by Lupus Films and Universal Studios, The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland was directed by Peter Baynton with screenplay by Sara Daddy. The film stars Gerard Butler as St. Nick, Emilia Clarke as the Queen of Hearts, and Simone Ashley as Alice. The animation does a great job translating the book’s illustrations, but the real impressive feat is the use of rhyme. Much like Clement Clarke Moore’s “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, the poem that gives the book its title, The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland groups all its spoken dialogue in rhyming couplets, often with one character finishing another character’s rhyme. We have the Queen of Hearts saying things like “Look inside the chimney and under the bed. When I find St. Nick, it’s off with his head.” Or St. Nick beginning with “You’ve tried your best, Alice, you’ve done all you can.” and Prancer finishing by saying “I’m sure the team are hatching a mastermind plan.”
While it sounds grating to have an hour and 20 minute movie do that as opposed to a 40 page book, it gives the movie a unique charm. When a character doesn’t rhyme, you can just tell that something is really off.
In addition to the rhyming, this movie does include half a dozen songs. Much of the singing is carried by either Butler or Clarke. Gerard Butler’s St. Nick is happy and festive throughout, and it gets even better when he sings. Butler is no stranger to singing, even in animation (I particularly enjoyed his song in the second How to Train Your Dragon movie), which makes his casting pretty much perfect. Emilia Clarke’s prior experience as a mad queen in Game of Thrones helped, but she isn’t known for her singing. Nevertheless, I enjoyed her performance. Clarke only plays the modern day Queen of Hearts, as Eliza Riley plays the Princess of Hearts in flashbacks. Both get to sing, and there’s a nice contrast between the innocence and hopefulness of the past Princess and the present day Queen who revels in cruelty.
The premise is a lot of fun and the unique touches are beautiful,
so I would call this is a pretty good animated Christmas film, but it is a bit lacking when it comes to being an Alice in Wonderland adaptation. The ever-optimistic St. Nick having to fix a mistake for someone he believed he failed works, but the concept of Wonderland wasn’t used to its fullest extent. Most of the scenes either take place in the Queen’s palace or the hedge maze (where Mad Hatter’s place is), which limits Wonderland as an exotic locale. Many characters, like the King of Hearts, are absent while others are changed (the Cheshire-Cat is the Queen’s mischievous pet who pops in from time to time to trip someone). Alice herself, unfortunately, doesn’t combine a childlike curiosity with the frustration of dealing with mad characters. She is fairly accustomed to the nature of Wonderland and already knows its residents, despite the fact that this is her first time meeting the Queen. The wackiness comes from quick gags, such as the caterpillar using a slide whistle to halt a mid-air fall, rather than puzzling logic or clever wordplay. St. Nick’s reindeer and elves, ultimately, are more entertaining than the Wonderland characters, and Alice doesn’t get a lot to do.
My favorite running gag has to be the one with the elves and the musical instruments. The movie opens with them playing a song, and St. Nick instructs them to play something more upbeat. Throughout the entire movie, the elves inexplicably pop up in the background to provide music to the scene. Even the Queen of Hearts tells them what to play at one point.
The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland is a real treat. Its British roots may pop up from time to time, but it’s accessible to all audiences. As per holiday season tradition, there’s a lot of competition in movie theatres right now, but The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland is the perfect holiday movie to watch at home on streaming. It is currently available on Hulu and Prime.
