I wanted to have fun and a good time with “Red One,” but all I got was a big nothing burger; no meat, no sauces and no extra ingredients.
It’s about a kidnapped Santa Claus named Nick, played by Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons (Whiplash, 2015). His right-hand man, Callum Drift, is portrayed by Dwayne Johnson. Also in the holiday mix is Chris Evans’ Jack Omalley, who’s so bad he steals a lollypop from a toddler in the park. He’s an IT man, but he’s kind of a jerk. Lucy Liu plays Zoe, one of Santa’s aides.
“Red One” is an easy-going watch, but nothing to write home about. Screenwriters Chris Morgan and Hiram Garcia must have thought they had something great on paper. Whatever they thought was terrific didn’t make to the big screen. It was just blasé.
Krampus (Kristofer Hivju), Santa’s adversary who gets in a fight with Johnson’s Drift, turns out to be a Santa’s relative in this holiday action-comedy fantasy.
So readers know, the budget for this project was around $200 million, perhaps more. The good news is the money is on the screen. It’s great eye candy and the music is pleasant enough.
All the main actors seem to be enjoying their roles because they do it well. Johnson and Evans played well off each other. They have good onscreen chemistry and it showed.
Part of the fantasy of “Red One” dealt with making a Hot Wheels scale model car expand to real car functioning size. And everything works, too. Also, the sets are very well designed, unlike “The Princess Bride” in 1987 where the sets looked like the actors were running around the movie studio backlot. That took me out of “Princess Bride.”
“Red One” is OK. In fact, it’s a good family movie because there is nothing to offend anyone. If the movie were an ice cream flavor, it would be just plain vanilla.
Grade: C+
