Santa’s Little Helper DVD Review

     Actors: Mike "The Miz" Mizanin, AnnaLynne McCord, Eric Keenleyside

Directors: Gil Junger

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Region: Region 1

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Studio: 20TH CENTURY FOX

DVD Release Date: November 17, 2015

Run Time: 91 minutes

 

        WWE Studios continues their awkward transition from scripted wrestling melodrama to scripted cinematic melodrama with the latest of their family productions. Santa’s Little Helper stars their regular performer, Mike “The Miz” Mizanin (Can I take a moment to point out the redundancy of including someone’s nickname when it is already an abbreviation of the last name; it ends up just sounding like an echo), along with Paige’s film debut. Despite having two wrestlers in the cast, the film refrains from blatant WWE promoting, and the storyline requires a surprisingly minimal amount of fighting between them.

 

        As the title makes clear, Santa’s Little Helper is a holiday film in the tradition of Santa Clause or Fred Claus, blending ordinary worldly characters with the magical fantasy world of Santa’s workshop in the North Pole. Mizanin stars as Dax, a self absorbed business man who is fired and left with a strange new job offer. It seems Santa has Dax in mind for the position as his second in command, though the job doesn’t come without its growing pains, not to mention the competition from a jealous elf named Eleanore (Paige). AnnaLynne McCord co-stars as an elf embarrassed of her human-looking ears, unconvincingly serving as love interest for the character of Dax.

 

        Though this is clearly silly fun intended for mostly younger audience members, there are also subtle jokes for the adults dispersed amongst the zany slapstick. Most of these tend to come in the form of sexual innuendo, though it all stays harmless enough to retain a PG rating. This is the type of material you would expect to see made for TV on a cable channel dedicated to younger viewers.

 

        The DVD extras include three features and a digital copy of the film. There is a featurette about the character of “Ho Ho Ho,” as well as a featurette about Paige’s career leading up to this film. The “Holiday Cast & Crew” featurette simply has a discussion of the holidays and the best gifts ever received by the cast and crew members of the film.

 

Entertainment Value: 4/10

Quality of Filmmaking: 4/10

Historical Significance:  3/10

Special Features: 5.5/10




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