I thought I was gonna struggle to get through this. The scene with the Easter Bunny, Mother Nature, Cupid, etc. The toy clone. The hokiest animatronic reindeer ever put on film, and that’s before you even get to the “talking” and farting. The groan “Mrs. Clause”. There’s lots that’s easy to hate here, and it’s kind of overwhelming at first.

But to my surprise and relief, it actually gets much better in its second half – kinda from the mopey Christmas party in the highschool gym (“It’s a great party. Look! That guy moved!”) onwards. The kid who played Allen’s son in the first movie proves himself to be a decent enough actor, the elves are all just as cute as before, and Spencer Breslin is at his least annoying which is always a good sign. It’s also amazing how little David Krumholtz as Bernard changed in 8 years, lol. It’s missing much of the creepiness of the original, and the toy clone is awful … but when it’s good, it’s more than worth the time.