‘Jingle All The Way’ is a family comedy Christmas film, focusing on the battle to get a Turbo Man action figure for each of their child’s Christmas present, between two rival fathers; Howard, (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and, Myron, (Sinbad).
Jingle all the way surprised me in a lot of ways, mainly that Schwarzenegger lends himself well to comedy, before this point he was mainly seen as a serious macho action hero, so seeing him play against type and, play a bumbling but, well-intentioned suburban dad was interesting. He also does really well in this role being charming and, relatable; it is a strange duality as he plays the lovable misguided father well, but also the campy super dad/ superhero which makes for a larger than life performances.
Another surprising thing about this film is its plot, which often veers into strange and, wacky territory. In some ways, this film is almost like a live-action cartoon, a good example of this point would be there is a scene in the film where Sinbad’s character blows himself up with a postal bomb, you didn’t see that coming did you, but rather than have this be a serious bit of drama in the film it is played for laughs and, rather than be mangled from the blast Myron and, the other characters around him look like they have just been covered in soot. Though I suppose I am overthinking the plot of a children’s film.
‘Jingle All The Way’ also has an odd plotline where Howard’s neighbour Ted, (Phil Hartman), is trying to replace him and, steal his wife, this is a plotline the film keeps coming back to and, Ted is the real antagonist of the film. This is strange when you consider it is supposed to be about the rivalry between Howard and Myron and, the climax of the film is the fight between those two and, Ted is nowhere in sight. It almost feels like Sinbad’s Myron is bad into a secondary villain, as the plotline with Ted is constantly stressed over and, over again.
The climax of the film is basically a superhero showdown between Turbo Man, which is Howard dressed up and, Dementor, Turbo Man’s arch-enemy that Myron is dressed as; this is to me where I think the plot goes off the rails and, things happen without any real reason. Also, the CGI and visual effects during this sequence are horribly dated, but that adds to the campy fun.
Overall ‘Jingle All The Way’ could have been a very generic Christmas film, but by adding all these larger than life and, sometimes downright strange elements to the mix you have something truly memorable. Overall this film isn’t going to knock your socks off, but it is dumb campy fun.
3.5/5
Reviewed by Luke
Another Millennial Reviewer 