Following yesterday's kooky kitties, there’s far more satisfying animal shenanigans today in the 2013 Dutch effort A Christmoose Story from director Lourens Blok. Picture, if you will, if E.T. was set in the Netherlands and if the alien was replaced by a goofy talking moose and you’ll have this agreeable little film in a nutshell. Max (Dennis, Reinsma) is struggling to cope with his parents’ separation, so when he discovers a magical talking moose named ‘Moos’, has crash-landed in his mum’s barn, he believes he’s found a kindred lost soul. Soon, he’s pulled into a magical adventure where he has to keep Moos a secret until he’s fit enough to pull Santa’s sleigh and Save Christmas.
I watch a version of this that’s dubbed into English for streaming and though the dubbing is a bit dodgy, I soon acclimatise.
This turns out to be a cut above much of the obscure kid-friendly stuff I’ve stumbled across in the hidden corners of online streaming sites, with some nice ideas and decent creature effects. Moos is pretty lifelike and cuddly and has some unique observations on life, like when they talk about Harry Potter he remarks “He’s the bad guy, right?”
His new antlered ally helps Max get over his dad leaving while spinning tales about how he’s so awesome and strong that Santa doesn’t need reindeer to pull his sleigh anymore, just him. When the stranded Santa (Derek De Lint) actually turns up, it’s revealed that Moos is full of it – he’s just used for ‘test drives’ and messed this one up. So, now it’s redemption time.
Santa is pretty funny in this, presented as a grumpy so-and-so, left wandering the chilly streets all dirty and unkempt, after his sleigh crashes. He gets confused for a vagrant and, in a neat twist, is far from jolly – in fact, he’s jolly well fed up with all this Christmas hassle. He even tries to strangle poor Moos at one point and Santa’s mental disintegration leads to a bizarre subplot where Max’s gran (Carla Hardy) helps him to get his mojo back.
This also features another trope that seems to come up often in these things – Santa gets arrested, locked in a loony bin and then has to convince the quacks of his identity with some cool magic. Here, he eventually just goes a bit …Cuckoos Nest and busts out of there, rising up and out of the chimney while a dumbfounded psychiatrist sits and scribbles notes.
It's a bit grimmer than your standard Christmas movie, with Max being tormented by vicious bullies who actually spit in his face, as well as a crazy neighbour with a gun who wants to destroy Moos. Of course, in the E.T. tradition, Max’s furry new chum helps him deal with his loss and overcome his problems with some good old-fashioned bromance. It’s a nice tale about friends supporting each other and about getting back up when life kicks you down. There are some tears and plenty of moving moments to make this more than worthy of kids’ time. In an age of abundant CGI effects, this one, with its animatronics and old-school magical atmosphere feels like a small, but charming and perfectly realised Christmas story. I find this to be a poignant revelation, really just because I wasn’t expecting much from a Dutch film I’d never heard of about a talking Christmas moose. That’s been one of the best things about this mission so far – the sweet little surprises that pop up in the most unexpected of places.
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