Review of Miracle on 34th Street (1994) by Jordan K — 23 Dec 2012

Since Christmas is two days away, I decided to watch the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street and review it in honor of the holidays. It's pretty good, but doesn't match the greatness of the original. There were a few things, of course, that I didn't like.

Like the original, it follows a department store santa with the coincidental name Kris Kringle. But here's the catch: the department store isn't Macy's. I guess because they didn't want to break copyright infringement, they had to make up some department store and came up with "Cole's". Sounds a lot like the actual store Kohl's, right? A worker at Cole's is Doris Walker, whose daughter Susan doesn't believe in Santa Claus and knows the truth because Doris believes the truth is more important than anything, including letting your daughter down. Like the original, Doris dates a guy who somehow is close friends with the family after a divorce named Bryan. People think Kris is crazy because he believes he is the actual Santa Claus. After hitting a man with his cane, Kris is sent to prison and his trial is sent to court with none other than Bryan as his lawyer. Since this is a happy Christmas family movie, Kris is proven to not be insane and the film leaves off on a happy ending.

Not perfect, but not too shabby. The fact that John Hughes wrote the screenplay makes me feel like this isn't even close to being one of his best works, but then again this is the same guy who also wrote the 3rd Home Alone. A time-consuming waste is the numerous flirting scenes between Doris and Bryan. This is a Christmas film, not a chick flick. The character Bryan Bedford has no personality except being laid back and acting like he's a tough guy. Bryan's character in the 1947 film was Fred Gayley, so why not just use that name? Is the name Fred too '40s enough for the film that they had to use a name that most likely would be used for a boy band member? I should probably quit ranting over little things, but this isn't the best film and it's just an excuse for people to go all cutesy over Mara Wilson.