Review of Miracle on 34th Street (1994) by Ashton L — 24 Dec 2017

I've never seen the original Miracle on 34th Street, as a child this was the version I grew up with every Christmas. I hadn't seen it in a good number of years since my childhood days and when faced with the choice of purchasing this film or the original on Blu Ray, I decided on this version simply because it was familiar and I wanted to see how it held up.

Unfortunately my memory did not serve me well as this movie is not at all the joyous perfect Christmas film I remembered. The aspects I enjoyed include the actual character of Kriss Kringle played by Richard Attenborough and the cheesiness of it.

The concept was also interesting even if the result of the final court room was a bit ridiculous. The idea of Santa in this movie legit being a simple crazy old man who just happens to believe he is Santa Claus is super interesting to think about once the credits roll.

Other than this though, the rest of the movie falls flat. The conflict with the main company that hires Mr. Kringle, Cole's, and their business competitor was forgettable. The child character of Susan was annoying and off putting as the delivery of many of her lines and the writing of her script sometimes made her seem like a child genius and other times like a normal little girl.

It was just very awkward. I didn't buy the romance of Bryan and Dorey whatsoever and the actual character if Dorey just ended up feeling so bland, boring, and annoying that it really drags the movie down even though it is a major focal point.

Overall, I don't recommend seeing this as an annual Christmas film, sigh, maybe the original will give me more hope if I watch that next year.