For me, Christmas and movies go hand in hand. Perhaps it's because when I was young we went to Wales every year to visit my Aunt and Uncle and I remember watching classic musicals (Sound of Music, Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) with my uncle. And what's Christmas Eve without a little bit of "It's a Wonderful Life"?
Now that I have a little person I intend to pass this love of Christmas movies on to him. And in terms of family friendly movies my list of favorites is short and sweet : A Christmas Story, A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Garfield Christmas Special and Home Alone This year I am happy to say that I have a new addition to my list: Disney Prep and Landing.
Disney Prep and Landing gives us a unique, behind the scenes look at Christmas Eve from the perspective of a special ops Elf, Wayne, who is part of the Prep and Landing crew. When Wayne is passed over for a promotion, which was given instead to his partner, he is assigned a new partner, Lanny, an idealistic, straight out of the academy rookie. Wayne is supposed to take Lanny under his wing during their first mission together but instead, because of his disgruntled attitude, he lets Lanny go solo while he sits back, has a ginormous cup of hot chocolate and eats a Santa cookie. Trouble ensues when the kid in the house wakes up and a snow storm subsequently forces Santa to divert from the house. This forces Wayne to reevaluate his attitude, and come up with a plan to save the night.
And why is this one on my favorite's list? Well, first of all, it captured Aiden's attention for the full 22 minutes (as you'll recall if you've read my posts Aiden is not really the sit-down,-for-more-than-five-minutes-let-alone-a-full-movie type of kid). Second, the spy gear was awesome, and what's not to love about neat spy gadgets (yes, I do have my gadget geek moments). Third, the idea of telling a story from a special ops elf, and a disgruntled one at that, is brilliantly creative. And finally, I love the teachable moment of the story: It's ok to be on the naughty list once in awhile but what matters the most is what you do in the end to make up for your mistakes.
Check it out:
Oh, the sequel is pretty darn great too by the way!
Happy movie watching,
Creatively yours,
Maya