re: Red One on Prime

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I agree. My biggest problem with it was being over 2 hours. It was great for what it was, but should’ve been about 20 to 30 minutes shorter.

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Yeah it was for sure too long. Younger kids will likely struggle to sit for the entire movie.

I actually liked a lot of what they did in this though. W/the never ending onslaught of Hallmark style Christmas movies overwhelming the holiday it was nice to have an original Christmas story for once.

While some of the CG was spotty there was also a surprising amount of practical effects and costumes. Krampus and his followers were like a cross of Narnia and Middle Earth w/a touch of Guardians of the Galaxy (mainly the minions he was slapping). The witch in her full form was actually an interesting design IMO and reminded me of Baba Yaga. While the Rock was essentially Ant-Man w/his little arm weapon I thought it was an amusing way to reference that Elves are usually small.

It's a bit of a mess overall and there are some story issues such as the mother being almost entirely dropped only to have a 2 second scene where she seems nowhere near upset enough for the situation and we never see what happens to that first guy on the naughty list. It's obviously predictable since it's a family movie but overall I really appreciate the big swings they took w/this movie.

If you want to have some mild fantasy horror in a Christmas movie that isn't too scary and has a good message w/your kids in the 10ish and up range this is a good option. There is some cursing. A few "shits" and they do the "character nearly says frick but it gets cut off halfway through when the phone is hung up" gag though I don't think it's anywhere near as course as something like The Goonies. IMO the fantasy monsters are roughly as scary as what you'd see in Return to Oz or The Witches.