Natalie Wood as Susan rocks in this movie. I don't know why I love the idea of a little girl who is so freaking jaded that the idea of anything fantastic is insane to her. However, she's still innocent. She's the product of her life. Her mother is divorced and has let her own jadedness leak down the food chain. The scene where she sees Santa talking in Dutch is just wonderful because you see her sense of wonder start to bleed through. The scene where Santa and Susan are talking about imagination makes me sad for when I was a kid. I think this is why I game, it's a way to keep myself feeling like a kid again. Overall, just the way that her shell cracks as the film goes on just shows what a remarkable actress she was at the age. Considering what happened to Wood, I just made myself sad.
I love the supporting in this cast as well. It starts with the Drunken Santa at the beginning. There's something about him that I think is just splendid. He's in the film for all of 3 minutes but he's just hilarious. Along the same lines, Sawyer, the store psychologist, is the closest thing this film has to an antagonist. I love him because I can hate him so easily. Most movies need at least one person that the audience can hate and he fills the role just perfectly and gets what he deserves. The Judge in the film also blends being a serious character while also being a little sentimental. You can see that he's just doing his job. Mr. Macy has just the right amount of scum and whimsy to his role. He's an honest man but also a business man so he's not afraid to make some threats here and there.
While I'm thinking about, let's talk about the remake. The remake sucks. Simple as that. I think the biggest problem is that they couldn't even use Macy's. Just making up some other store alone, I dunno, makes the movie lose something. I mean, the original is a shameless commercial for Macy's but having Gimbels in it also balances things out. I also have a slight problem with the fact that the movie adds a seriousness to the matter. There's none of the frivolity of the original. For that matter, Susan's change from wanting a house to wanting a dad is kinda a step backwards. I dunno, the mom in the original was an independent woman years before Mary Tyler Moore. She's made honest, or at least the hint is there, in the original. In the remake, nopers. Susan thinks that's the only way to make her happy and Santa Claus works as a matchmaker. One other thing is that the original had faith in things as a very underlying theme. Outside of one speech, it's never brought to the forefront because it doesn't have to be. In the remake, nope, let's drop an anvil on it, bludgeon you to death with it.
I love this film. It's the perfect Christmas film. It had a childlike wonder but doesn't pander to the audience. It doesn't pretend to be any more adult than it actually is, it's just trying to be the perfect holiday film and not even trying really. It was originally released in may and Fox tried to keep it on the downlow that it was a Christmas film for that matter. It's a great film and one I love every year. There's just something about it's innocence and joy that I love. It makes me feel like a kid again and that's rare for me anymore.
Notable Commercials: There's this commercial for the Wii and Netflix where they make fun of Mary Poppins only with a dapper man. They sing a song about imagination. I kinda love it for some weird reason.
Late-Christmas Ideas: I would love a beard trimmer so I can get my beard to look as awesome as Edmund Gwenn's does in this movie.
The Tally
Mountain Dews Left: 23
Energy Drinks Left: 4
Cups of Coffee drank: 0
Pumpkin Pie Left: Whole Pie
Sanity Rating (1 Being Santa Claus, 10 being Nutball Psychologist in this movie): 4
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