Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Santa Hunters is the story of a boy who gets given a pipe that allegedly belonged to Santa and can't convince people the fat jolly man with the white beard is real. So he and his cousins and nieces go off to try and prove it.The film starts off looking like it wants to be The Blair Witch Project with plenty of speeches to camera, then later suddenly decides it wants to be Spy Kids (with all the technological gadgets) meets Home Alone (when they glue the windows shut and set up various traps) meets Paranormal Activity (locked off cameras everywhere including for some reason in the fish tank). Every little knock, every little vibration sets off the lead kid to investigate them. They do get their hands on some "proof" but can they use it? As you'd probably expect for the film's target audience there are poo and fart jokes (including an extended scene in the bathroom that combines these two) and some OTT acting which seems to be compulsory for these sorts of films.If the kids still believe in Santa, they'll be happy. If they don't, well they might get a kick out of Santa falling out the tree-house. Beyond that it's an obvious cheap and cheerful Christmas flick that won't be a classic by any stretch of the imagination but the film isn't particularly bad but not particularly good either.