A Masterpiece!

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Sorry, I'm gonna be the Grinch on this one. I put off watching this one for years mostly because I grew up watching the original every year with my family. It was always my mom's favorite so, naturally, that pulls a lot of weight for my review of this movie. We were looking for a Christmassy movie to watch with the grand kids the other night so I thought of this one. I was a little hesitant to go with the new one but I thought the kids would like it more. I chose to buy it from Amazon rather than rent it. I will say, first, that my 9 year old granddaughter enjoyed it. I am going to play the original this week and get her opinion on it, also. The movie in my opinion was one of those that had too much dead air time or just some awkward silence. It progressed very slowly and, to me, the acting was forced and a little over the top at times. It loosely followed the original story of a department store Santa that is a little too realistic for some people and was a threat to the competing store and a few hateful people in particular. He befriends the daughter of the head of the "Cole's department store parade", who is a little girl that is supposed to be way above her years. Kris Kringle claims to be the real Santa Claus and the evil department store CEO is determined to prove otherwise. So, naturally, the easiest thing to do is have Kris arrested and thrown in the psych ward at Belleview. He is defended at the commitment hearing by the little girl's mother's boyfriend. I'll let you watch and see how it ends. Sometimes when a movie is being remade, the director has a very difficult time capturing the the feel and the emotion of the original. That is the feel for me on this one. I really think they missed the mark on this wonderful classic. Was it horrible and unwatchable? Not really. But I did find myself getting reminded by my wife that we were all supposed to be watching the movie together, not playing on my phone. If you haven't seen the original, please do. There is a colorized version if you don't like black and white movies but I prefer the B/W for nostalgia sake. But if you do take the time to watch the original, please come back and review it and leave a rebuttal on my review. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Happy Holidays

This movie is best all time Christmas movie! Whether its the 1994 version with Richard Attenborough, Mara Wilson, Elizabeth Perkins and Dylan McDermott or the 1947 version with Maureen O'Hara, Natalie Wood and William Frawley, I can watch either one every year with the same emotional pull every time! "I believe!" Each version changes the miracle (the 1947 uses the US Post Office's innumerable letters to Santa Claus and the 1994 uses the US One Dollar bill's "In God We Trust"), but they both have the same effect. It's too bad Macy's didn't lend it's name to this excellent makeover, especially being the the parade is known as the "Macy's Day Parade," but instead giving way to the fictitious S.F Cole store in the make over.

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" director John Hughes has done an admirable job reworking writer & director George Seaton's Santa Claus on trial classic "Miracle on 34th Street" but he has made some interesting as well as creative changes with the narrative. The names of various characters have been altered and certain incidents from the original have been enlarged. First, the psychiatrist named Sawyer has been omitted. Second, Hughes has added some melodrama in the form of a villainous department store owner struggling to implement a takeover bid. This villain has a henchman who exploits the drunken Santa Claus that Kris Kringle revealed. The names of popular department stores, such as Macy's and Gimbals', have been altered, too, to fictional stores. .Hughes has taken certain liberties that were not done in the original. Elizabeth Perkins is far more reserved than Maureen O'Hara as the heroine, but she is incredibly sincere. Dylan McDermott is perfect as John Payne's replacement who is an attorney who desperately sets out to woo the Perkins heroine. If anybody bestows a sense of dignity to this respectable remake, actor/director Richard Attenborough does so as Kris Kringle. The strong supporting cast consists of James Remar as the rival department store owner's henchman; J.T. Walsh as the public prosecutor, and Robert Prosky plays Judge Henry Harper. Unfortunately, the remake lacks the passion of the original. There is no mail bag scene, and the Judge issues his ruling based on the circled words "In God We Trust" on a one dollar bill that secures Kringle's release. Like the original, the Santa Claus definitely believes that he is the one and only Santa. This "Miracle on 34th Street" is appropriate for our enlightened, cynical age and doesn't touch the commercialism of Christmas issue. Les Mayfield does a good job of shepherding the remake through to its inevitable conclusion. Alvin Greenman is the only cast member from the original, but he doesn't play a department store janitor this time. Instead, he is cast as a doorman. Although it lacks the spontaneity of the original, you may enjoy this version more. Inevitably, the two romantic leads unite at fade-out.

I am so happy to watch this movie 20 years after it was first released. First, i am still kicking but second, the movie has held up well. Like the first version this version seems just as timeless. For anyone who avoided the thinking the remake would not be as good. I think it's time to cast those fears away and give it a try. Much like the First, his court case is dismissed due to Federal Government's benignly coming to the rescue. Unlike the post office (which we know today would not send Santa Mail to the court) a perhaps better escape comes in with "In God We Trust" on a dollar bill... But in another 20 years this too may be something of the past considering the direction we are heading.Some scenes like the wanna-be Santa and the doctor needing a new x ray machine are missing and the tangible proof of the Cane are gone (shame since this cane was so ornate). But all in all, I found I could watch both the old and new back to back and still enjoy them both.Mara Wilson (Susan) take the spotlight just a Natalie Wood did in the first release. What is strange is her name in the credits and here on IMDb... 10th down the list here on IMDb and hard to find in the film's Cast List.... Seems the Hollywood People were to vein to give her a higher billing.... Shame... but that's Hollywood - Actors - Phhhh - almost all the same.