Red One movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Red One

This fun action Christmas movie was going to release direct to video, but the plan changed and is now playing in theaters.

RATING: PG-13

LENGTH: 2 hours 3 minutes

MOVIE REVIEW MOM GRADE: B+

IN A NUTSHELL:

Santa gets kidnapped just a few days before Christmas, so his Head of Security has to reluctantly team up with an infamous bounty hunter in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to find and save The Red One.

The movie was directed by Jake Kasdan. Writing credits go to Chris Morgan and Hiram Garcia. Already, the film has been nominated for “Best Original Score” by Henry Jackman at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards.

THINGS I LIKED:

I love Dwayne Johnson in all of his movies. He’s such a stud-muffing and always looks like he’s having a blast. He should be having fun because he just got paid $50 MILLION dollars to star in this film.
Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons does a great job as a different kind of Santa. This is actually his second time playing Santa! His first Santa role was in the 2019 movie Klaus.
Bonnie Hunt is always so great. I loved the sweet moment where she didn’t even say a word, but lovingly put her hand on Dwayne Johnson’s face. She said so much with that kind gesture.
It hurts my heart just a little bit to see Chris Evans as a bad guy…a level 4 Naughty-Lister. He should be Captain America forever. Ha ha Both he and Dwayne Johnson were named “People’s Sexiest Man Alife” in 2016 and 2022. On a related note, Prince William just recently beat out Dwayne Johnson as “Sexiest Bald Man”!
It was also fun to see Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Liu, and Kristofer Hivju, who all did a good job.
Santa’s village sure has gotten a high-tech upgrade.
There are all kinds of new kinds of creatures as Santa’s helpers in the E.L.F. team. Cute. We’re also introduced to a lot of creative “bad guys”.
The giant reindeer were cool even though they looked super CGI.
Fun stunts! The action sequences and fight scenes are very creative.
Some of the special effects are pretty cool.
There’s a lot of humor.
The makeup and prosthetics team did a fantastic job.
You’ll never look at a snowglobe the same way again.
If you like superhero movies, this kind of felt like one.
There’s a lot of heart in the story and I felt all the feels at the end.
If you’re looking for a different kind of Christmas movie, here ya go!

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

Film critics have been hating this one, awarding it an extremely low 38% on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s not a perfect film, but I, clearly, enjoyed this a lot more than other film critics! There is a lot of good to be found in this fun flick.
I don’t know what was going on with Dwayne Johnson during the filmming of this movie, but apparently, he consistently showed up on set late, causing everyone to wait for hours and an extra $50 budget increase. Not cool, Rock. Ironically, he criticized Vin Diesel for doing the same thing while filming the 2017 movie The Fate of the Furious.
Santa kept calling the reindeer “ladies”. Aren’t they all guys, traditionally? Yes, they are; however, only female reindeer keep their antlers during the winter!
This should be a kid’s movie, but the content is a bit too mature and inappropriate for young kids.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Some profanity. There’s a moment when a character is just about to drop an F-bomb and then a funny glitch kind of bleeps it out.
We see some women in skimpy bikinis.
We see a lot of bad behavior.
Young kids probably won’t know about the legend of Krampus, who plays an important and entertaining role in this movie.
Lots of violence.
There’s a witch that might be too scary for young children.
People and creatures are in dangerous situations.

THEMES:

Time for a change
Spreading good cheer
Parenting
Punishment
Judging others
Repentance
Teamwork
The magic of Christmas

FUNNY LINES:

“I’m kind of a big deal; I have 3000 followers. I’m going to make your boy famous!” – obnoxious Influencer “He’s already quite famous.” – Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson)
“The mall at Christmas time is like oxygen to me.” – Santa (J.K. Simmons)
“Let’s have a cookie.” – Santa (J.K. Simmons) “The answer to everything.” – Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson)
“Growing up is tough.” – Jack (Chris Evans) “Is that why you’re avoiding it?” – Olivia (Mary Elizabeth Ellis)
“I gotta talk to these absolute mormons for a second, and then we’ll get some Boba.” – Ted (Nick Kroll)

INTERESTING LINES:

“I love the kids; it’s the grownups that are killing me.” – Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson)
“For the first time ever, more people are on the Naughty List than not, and it’s like they don’t even care. There’s so much bad behavior out there, everywhere you look.” – Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson)
“We choose every day who we want to be, through big decisions and little ones, and every one of them matters.” – Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson)
“It’s not our job to change people. People change themselves.” – Santa (J.K. Simmons)
“We know that somewhere inside every lost grown-up is the kid they once were. Our gift is that we can see them, even when they can’t. We work for the kids, Cal…even when they’re not kids anymore.” – Santa (J.K. Simmons)
“You’re human, therefore, weak.” – Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson)
“You have every choice. It’s all choices. You don’t just happen to be on the List, Jack. You put yourself there. You decide.” – Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson)
“Nick always says that every decision, big or small, is an opportunity…to be good or not.” – Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson)