This is a kids movie but I found it really honest than most about (a) how rough childhood can be; and (b) how hard it is to be a parent around the holidays. I just don't have the money to make my kids happy that time of year. This movie gets it, but has a message that it is the people and the relationships around us that really matter, not money and things and rituals

Jesus most assuredly was a Marxist, and this is one of the only Christmas movies to directly deal with the true ugliness of Christmas and its consumerism. I would compare it to Pasolini's Gospel According to St. Mathew.

While a successful and charming Christmas kids movie this is also a VERY Freudian adaptation of ETA Hoffmann's Nutcracker and the Mouse King and pointed (atheist? agnostic? piously devout?) critique of Christmastime myths. Not your average holiday flick!