Powerful

Don't Believe the Hype

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Workaholic Howard Langston (Arnold Schwartzeneger) is a busy man who hardly has some time for his family, after being very later for his son Jamie (Jake Lloyd)'s karate class he apologizes to his son for what he did and wants to make it up by getting him something special for Christmas. What the boy wants for Christas is a Turbo Man action figure yet what he doesn't know that its the hottest selling Christmas toy of the season and nearly impossible to find. He's now in the major city to find it as he has competition with a frenzied mailman father named Mairon (Sinbad) who wants the doll too.An underrated and fun holiday comedy i always enjoyed since i saw it in theaters as a teen and been one of my guilty pleasures. Chris Columbus who produces this movie came up with the idea for this movie based on the Cabbage Patch Kids craze of the 80s even holiday hot selling toy fads especially Power Rangers to him trying to get a Buzz Lightyear toy for his kid the previous year before this was filmed in April of 1996. Originally Joe Pesci was considered for the role of Marion but was deemed too short for the role, Sinbad was casted yet i think Joe Pesci would had been interesting and here Sinbad is likable unlike some other films he did. Originally before Arnold was considered for the role, Tim Allen was gonna play Howard Langstron which would had been interesting but i'm glad Arnold got the role. Even though Twins is his finest comedic role, this one is far better than Junior which was terrible. Phil Hartman co-starts as the neighbor Ted as he is likable as usual and one of his last major roles in a movie before he was murdered 2 years later and Rita Wilson is fantastic as Howard's wife Liz and Jake Lloyd whom is the little boy everyone hated in Star Wars Episode 1 is likable here. James Belushi whom co-starred with Arnold in 1988's Red Heat is reunited with him again as a sleazy mall santa who runs an illegal operation. The world premiere was held on November 16, 1996 at the Mall of America in Bloomington where parts of the film were shot. A day of events was held to celebrate the film's release and Arnold Schwarzenegger donated memorabilia from the film to the Mall's Planet Hollywood.It took five weeks in April of 96 and the largest production filmed in Minnepolis where the Holiday Wintertainment parade in the climax was filmed in Universal Studios Hollywood. Richard Moll even co- stars in a cameo as Dementor in this movie whom you know from House (1985), Bull from Nightcourt, Two-Face on Batman TAS etc. the project after development on a remake Planet of the Apes (1968), which had been a longtime pet project for the actor, fell apart. Sure some of the acting is OK and some situations are ridiculous as heck, but this is a fun movie i should say that is a satire on commercialism around the holidays plus has a good meaning in the end. It's a cute and enjoyable holiday comedy i always enjoyed since i was a teen seeing this in theaters.

I make a point of trying to watch every Schwarzenegger film in existence, a journey that has taken me from many highs to the occasional low (JUNIOR, for instance). It has to be said that the thought of JINGLE ALL THE WAY - a family comedy in which Schwarzenegger plays a father hunting for a rare toy for his kid on Christmas Eve - didn't exactly fill me with festive cheer, but the good news is that it's not too bad a film, although it's certainly a chore to sit through in places.The thing that keeps this film watchable is Schwarzenegger himself. Sure, his acting is often over the top and more than a little cheesy in places, but nonetheless he appears to be giving it his all here and he gives a very physical, slapstick-orientated performance that works nicely and imparts a lot of energy into the production. The supporting cast are less successful, although Sinbad is better than expected. It comes as little surprise that Jake Lloyd (infamous for his role in THE PHANTOM MENACE) is bad and as for Phil Hartman's disturbing character, the less said the better.The plot is very lightweight and the scenes which riff on MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS faintly embarrassing. The climax features some really bad CGI and model effects which look awful when considering than SPIDER-MAN was just around the corner. It goes to show how far superhero cinema progressed in just a few years. Still, some of the laughs are okay, and James Belushi is always a welcome presence, so it's not all bad.

Jingle All The Way is neither the best or worst Christmas themed comedy. However, the film is totally ridiculous and over the top, it is a fairly wholesome and clean holiday fun for the whole family. It also is a comment on mass consumer Christmas frenzy, which shows the true meaning of Christmas...insanity. And Jingle All The Way is pretty insane, with Arnold going Power Ranger, fighting Sinbad and beating up bad santas with a giant candy cane. While this film is pretty corny and cheesy, it is also totally insane. My main man Arnie is up for the task and really gets into his role here. I don't think any other major action star could have pulled this off, but Arnold does and is hilarious here. Jingle All The Way is a guilty pleasure for me, but unlike a lot of crap that gets released during the holiday season, this is one film you won't forget.

Brian Levant's "Jingle All the Way" is not a bad film, it just doesn't know what to do with its own comedic potential, one that mostly shines in the earliest parts before the plot runs out of ideas and then ventures into familiar territories, too familiar to make this a standout even as a Christmas family comedy. Maybe the story was good material for a TV movie or a short comedy but when you've got Arnold Schwarzenegger with you, a star who's proved his capability for generating laughs ever with box-office hits like "Twins", "Kindergarten Cop" or "Junior", and actors like the late Phil Hartman, Sinbad and the so underrated Jim Belushi, you can make something good out of it.And it starts good. If Arnold Schwarzenegger is unintentionally funny as a workaholic businessman, he manages to be merely convincing and the film flies over the 'absent father' overused trope without crashing into it, but it's a close call. The kid, played by future Anakin Skywalker Jake Lloyd, forgives his father who's been absent to his karate course because he knows he's going to redeem himself with the ultimate Christmas gift, the so-cherished superhero doll: Turbo Man. But Howard is kind of a "turbo man" himself, business-wise, he's a busy man, which in child's language equals to 'bad father'… as long as he doesn't show up with the doll, which he naturally forgot to buy, and at the eve of Christmas, he'd have more chances to find Sarah Connor. The set-up quite works and when Howard goes to the mall desperately looking for Turbo Man, he only meets the laughs and sarcasms of funny-looking vendors, the humor is not the most sophisticated but what the heck, these troll-faces making fun of the Terminator made me laugh and enthusiastically wait for similar gags. And there was another inventive moment with the sleazy Santa Klaus' counterfeit warehouse and the over-the-top fights, the film wasn't as fun as when it tackled holiday consumerism or when it made fun of the Christmas spirit, never in a cynical way (not that it couldn't). But then the writer forgot something as essential to the story as Turbo Man to the kid, he forgot a third act.Sure, ending the film with Howard being the real Turbo Man as to establish his status as the real hero instead of the fake, merchandised one was the kind of touches we could see coming, but it could have worked only if there was something that made fun of the superhero figure or if it ended with Howard being heroic like a real father, not like a superhero. Levant thinks he parodies a cliché, but in fact, he replicates it and makes his film a cliché. As soon as Howard gets in the Turbo Man costume, we know his antagonist played by Sinbad, will be the villain, and then we'll have an obligatory climactic action sequence with special effects on the same level than an episode of "Mighty Morphing Power Rangers". The effects were lame in the opening commercial because it was meant to, but it's an insult to Arnold's stature as an action movie star to push him in so lamentable effects. But that's not what bothered me the most, it was just the whole idea of the ending, what was it trying to prove? All through the film, Howard showed that he didn't really care for his son's doll, which seemed to mean that he didn't care for his son. We know it's not true, we know the value of a father shouldn't be measured by the time dedicated to his son or his gifts, if only because it's the very time spent in the office that buys the gift, which is contradictory. Never mind, what should have happened was the kid believing that his father is the best gift he had, which is what the ending tried to show, but in reality, the kid never knows that it's his Dad, until he tells him so, so when he doesn't care about the doll because he's got the real Turbo Man, he doesn't have his father in mind. Why not anyway? But then why does he suddenly wish that his father had come to the parade, why the guilt? If anything, Howard is the one to blame.The film doesn't exactly know how to connect the expected happy ending with the second act, and it's a pity, it could have used the subplot with the cop (Robert Conrad) instead of making it a silly running gag, it could have game more substance to the neighbor played by Phil Hartman and not making him a one-dimensional rival, there were many ways to improve the film, but somewhere it got lost in a project too ambitious for its own good. I think the reason is that Howard wasn't unlikable enough, like Jim Carrey in "Liar, Liar", his journey wasn't really interesting, I mean, all he had to do was buying a toy, this is a rather thin character's arc, not exciting, and he's the highlight of the film, which says a lot. Rita Wilson is the obligatory 90's nagging wife whose range of emotions consists on complimenting Howard or being impressed when he does something good, arguing when it's bad, and being worried in-between.In all fairness "Jingle All the Way" starts very well and features many funny scenes, but you can enjoy them on Youtube. Besides, the knowledge of the fate of Jake Lloyd, which is still nothing compared to the poor Hartman doesn't help either. I used to like the film, my little brother loved it, the problem is that even the good parts prevent the film from being a cult-failure, it isn't so bad it's good, it's just as popular as "Booster", and gets so corny near the end, it's the height of irony that the writer's name is Kornfield.