That Christmas
Detailed parental analysis
This Christmas is a family animated film with a warm yet clear-eyed tone that interweaves several stories of characters confronted by loneliness, grief and the need for human connection during the festive season. The plot follows in parallel a child lost in a snowstorm and adults seeking connection, set against a reimagined Christmas magic treated with humour. The film targets children from 6 or 7 years old and their parents, with an emotional sensitivity that will also resonate with adults.
Underlying Values
The film builds its argument around a strong and honest idea: Christmas is not synonymous with automatic happiness, and the festive season can amplify loneliness as much as joy. This narrative choice is its principal quality and its distinctiveness. The values conveyed are those of community, mutual support and chosen emotional bonds rather than imposed ones, which sets it apart from purely euphoric festive narratives. A potential point of friction for certain families concerns the representation of the nativity and the Christian Christmas narrative, treated with light irreverence that may upset parents attached to the religious significance of the celebration. This is not a sustained attack but rather a secular and offbeat perspective, worth anticipating if the family is practising believers.
Parental and Family Portrayals
The film accords notable space to single-parent families and working mothers, neither pathologising nor idealising them excessively. These parents are shown as loving and committed despite the constraints of daily life, which offers a welcome counterpoint to the usual representations of the perfect festive family. Memorial scenes for deceased parents ground the narrative in an emotional reality that children who have experienced bereavement might feel intensely.
Violence
Violence is absent in the strict sense, but the film contains sequences with genuine tension: a child appears lost in a snowstorm with a scene briefly evoking danger at sea, of a kind likely to worry the youngest or most sensitive viewers. These moments are resolved positively but are not emotionally innocuous. A fall by Father Christmas from the roof with a visual gag with slightly crude undertones (landing on the crotch) falls within harmless physical humour but worth flagging for very strict parents.
Language
The language remains largely accessible to young children, with a few mildly familiar expressions such as 'flipping heck', 'damn' or 'hell', as well as minor name-calling ('moron', 'stupid'). Nothing crude in the strict sense, but a register that occasionally departs from the hushed neutrality of productions for very young children.
Social Themes
The film touches lightly on a few contemporary themes, notably the question of intensive farming and the slaughter of turkeys for the festive season, as well as the distinction between cage farming and free-range farming. These references are treated with humour and lightness rather than as advocacy, but they may open a conversation with children sensitive to animal welfare or family eating habits.
Strengths
The film succeeds in not reducing Christmas to a postcard backdrop, by according narrative dignity to characters who suffer or who are missing someone. This emotional honesty is rare in the genre and gives the narrative a depth that children feel without necessarily articulating it. The humour is effective and well-balanced, avoiding excessive sentimentality whilst preserving the expected magic. The film works equally well for adults and children, making it a genuine intergenerational object of shared experience rather than a pretext to send them to sleep.
Age recommendation and discussion points
The film is suitable from 7 years old, with parental accompaniment recommended for 7 to 9-year-olds sensitive to themes of bereavement or fear. For children of 10 and older, viewing is straightforward and independent. Two angles to explore after the film: why certain characters experience Christmas as a difficult moment rather than a joyful one, and what makes human bonds more precious than gifts in the story.
Synopsis
It's an unforgettable Christmas for the townsfolk of Wellington-on-Sea when the worst snowstorm in history alters everyone's plans — including Santa's.
About this title
- Format
- Feature film
- Year
- 2024
- Runtime
- 1h 35m
- Countries
- United Kingdom
- Original language
- EN
- Directed by
- Simon Otto
- Main cast
- Brian Cox, Bill Nighy, Fiona Shaw, Jack Wisniewski, Jodie Whittaker, India Brown, Guz Khan, Lolly Adefope, Zazie Hayhurst, Sienna Sayer
- Studios
- Locksmith Animation, DNEG
Content barometer
- Violence1/5Mild
- Fear2/5A few scenes
- Sexuality0/5None
- Language1/5Mild
- Narrative complexity1/5Accessible
- Adult themes0/5None
Values conveyed
- Acceptance of difference
- Compassion
- solidarity
- resilience
- friendship
- family celebration
- Christmas spirit
- empathy
- courage