I think I may have half-seen this before ‘cos some parts of it I recognised (and not from the original). What can I say … the guy’s wishes suck, the gender divide is too broad (though there really should always be a sex change wish in these things, whether intended by the wisher or not, I have to say LOL), and it makes the terrible, tired, terrible, tired gay musical-lover gag … but I can’t help it. Maybe it’s that you give me a movie like this and it doesn’t matter whether it’s good or bad because I’m happy enough for 90 minutes thinking up my own wishes and how I’d phrase them lol; maybe it’s that Brendan Fraser’s surprisingly good, reminding me at times of Trevor Fehrman in Clerks II when he’s the “real” Elliot; but I found this a surprisingly decent remake of the surprisingly fun Peter Cook/Dudley Moore version – I felt as much right from the “Big Mac and a Coke” version of the “sixpence iced lolly” scene. I really can’t think of a truly bad thing to say of it outside of those personal nitpicks above.

And we’re back to deferring to the Kermodester … or in this case, in a shock twist, completely disagreeing with him to my utmost surprise. He really didn’t like this, and I usually trust him, so I cringed for a good 20 minutes here given dead gags like the “Elfementary School” (haven’t we been told in the first two movies that the elves aren’t children?) etc.

But this one won me over even quicker than the second movie. Martin Short is brilliant as Jack Frost and the basic concept is much more intriguing than the first sequel. Alan Arkin’s facial expressions towards the end, over being “Father-in-law Christmas”, over the Easter bunny and co, and over that line, “They didn’t know about magical hugs,” are just fantastic.

I said I missed the kinda-sorta shameless “creepiness” of the original in part 2 and it’s mostly absent here too. But the hug that warms Jack Frost’s heart here is more than enough to make up for that. For a movie released only last year, the perfect love of that moment really can’t be underestimated. It’s one of those tiny moments that can make me love the worst kind of cheese.