Categories: Reviews

Criticism of ‘Kings against Santa’, a gift with heart

The Three Wise Men face Santa in this family comedy by Paco Caballero starring Karra Elejalde, David Verdaguer and Matías Janick.

    The Three Wise Men (and their flying saucer) from the psychotronic show ‘Hello… Mr. God’ (Manuel Esteba, 1970) would be proud to see their doubles from the future turned into a version of the ghostbusters on the hunt for a Gozer the Gozerian who acquires the forms of the Krampus. ‘Kings against Santa’ is pure formulaic cinema, but with the right doses of mischief and heart to never be boring, which reinvents mistletoe and zambomba humor as Levant, Favreau or the Chabat of ‘Santa Claus & Cia’ (2017) did in their day.

    It contains plenty of stimuli: a Santa Claus obsessed with the marketinga Magical World that seems to evoke the Imaginationland of ‘South Park’, a handful of grateful jokes (Melchor pissed off at a Republican graffiti), a successful production design, undeniable casting successes (especially Elejalde, Verdaguer and Kolokolchykova) and, in the first line, a Paco Caballero less inspired than in the Sandlerian ‘Amor de madre’, but who complies easily. Coal: perhaps an overcalculation.

    For those looking to enjoy good escape cinema in times of ideological saturation

    The best: Gaspar’s tender humanity.

    DATA SHEET

    Address: paco caballero Distribution: Karra Elejalde, David Verdaguer, Matías Janick, Andrés Almeida, Adal Ramones, Eva Ugarte Country: Spain Year: 2022 Release date: 18–11-2022 Gender: Comedy Script: Carmen López-Areal, Benjamín Herranz, Lelé Morales, Eric Navarro Duration: 104 min.

    Synopsis: The Three Wise Men, fed up with Santa taking more and more prominence from them, have decided to confront each other without knowing that this war will awaken a much more dangerous common enemy, the Krampus, which had been inactive for centuries.

    Source: Fotogramas