Dashing Through the Snow

It almost works thanks to Lil Rel Howery, but 'Dashing Through the Snow' ultimately falls flat.

Howery does produce some good stuff as Santa, though he - as with the film in general, really - isn't given enough to work with to make it a success. There is mild amusement throughout, but the film needed more entertainment from its plot and much better pacing to be enjoyable.

The bad guys are particularly poorly written and used, while the Xmas vibes aren't really all that abundant. The cast, namely Howery, Ludacris and Madison Skye Validum, all do try and are the film's strongest element. I just needed more from elsewhere with this, I could feel my interest waning from around the midway point.

If there's one thing Disney can in addition to animated movies, it's family movies. Unfortunately, this movie does not join their ranks of high-quality family movies. There isn't a single well-known actor in it, and the ones that are in it aren't necessarily picked from the top shelf. There is a girl among those who can be said to be the main characters, and she is basically the best actress.

In this movie, Disney goes to great lengths to say that Santa is not the Santa we know from other movies. He's African-American, wears a burgundy-red suit and his beard is actually black, but was dyed white a while ago. Now, however, the regrowth is very strong so it's about 50/50 black and white. According to Santa himself in the movie, the fact th...