Miracle on 34th Street (1994)

I had planned on watching Miracle on 34th Street ever since the beginning. I really wanted to see all those classic old Christmas movies that I had never gotten around to seeing, and that was my plan today. I had a moment of confusion when I looked up this movie when the first one that I pulled up was the 1994 remake, as I had thought it was an old black and white movie. I shrugged my shoulders and figured I was just confusing it with some thing else. That's how I ended up watching what I moments ago found out with my own eyes that this was a remake, and the original was from 1947. Well, too late now. So how was the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street without having ever seen the original? Hit the jump for this little bit of an experiment!


For those of you who have no idea what the story of this classic Christmas movie is, it's all about a department store Santa (Richard Attenborough) who seems to believe he's the real deal. His legal name is Kris Kringle, he seems to be able to speak any language on Earth, including sign language, knows where all the toys in the city are (in that he can tell you the price of any toy at any store), and of course has his own Santa suit with golden buttons and sewn together with golden thread. Hard to argue against all that, but that's exactly what happens. Due to certain events, his sanity is put into question when people start seeing he really believes himself to be Santa. Kris soon finds himself in court to determine whether or not he needs to be committed. In essence, the trial is to determine if there is, or isn't, a Santa Claus.

Kris Kringle meets a drunk parade Santa. Shameful!

I found the start of the movie to be really charming and cute. It was pretty hard to see the young girl Susan, played by Mara Wilson, say that she knows that there is no Santa. She can't be any older than 7 or 8, and to see such a young child already so far removed from an innocent childhood is terrible. She soon meets Kris and the resulting wonder and awe in this little girl was great to see. She was quite a good little actor, and the movie really does hinge around her ability to make you believe that her reactions are genuine, and she succeeds wonderfully.

Another star that really made a difference was Richard Attenborough as Kris Kringle. I don't think there was a single moment in the film that I doubted he was the real Santa. I think he's probably the best Santa I've ever seen in a movie too! What else can I say? He was perfect for the role!

A reindeer is brought into the courtroom by the Prosecution

Unfortunately, everything in the film wasn't as perfect as Richard Attenborough. Where it all started to drag for me was once they got into the corporate sabotage stuff, and then the court case. The movie was so wonderful and charming, but all that vanished with the comically bad hench-people employed by the evil business man who wants to bring Santa down. The little girl and Kris came across as so genuine, then you have these other characters who almost seem like they belonged in a cartoon. That's really saying something when you have a man who is claiming to be Santa Claus and talks to reindeer!

While I had hoped the courtroom stuff would have been something special, it just felt like a boring waste of time, and none of the characters seemed real at that point. They never even brought up that the boyfriend of Susan's mother is a lawyer until he suddenly shows up in the courthouse as a lawyer!

He's real!

The movie turned around a bit after the courtroom drama and went back into Christmas mode. We see a few scenes of those magical moments that only Christmas movies can seem to deliver where everyone is happy and filled with love and smiles and warmth. A child's faith in Santa is renewed and everything works out great for everyone. I wish the courtroom stuff had worked out better, because that middle chunk of the movie just seemed to sap the life out of the film. I'm a little worried the same could be true for the original, which I intend on also checking out. Overall it was a nice movie, I just wish it had been a little better. Here's to hoping the 1947 original is even better!