Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio
Titanic (1997) behind the scenes
And laughing for longer than I’d like to admit, if we’re being honest.
For those unaware like me, here’s how things go down.
The Year Without A Santa Claus. Mrs. Claus acts as host, telling us the story.
Santa’s sick, can’t do his Santa-ly duties! Oh no!
However, she immediately gets out the hat…
…and breaks into a whole musical number about how she could be Santa Claus, and no one would be any wiser.
And I was like… c’mon, guys.
This is kinda on the nose. It’s fun and all, but there’s no need to spoil the ending in the first musical number, right?
But no, she’s serious.
Even says she’s “fantasized it a lot.” Goin’ around on Christmas Eve, deliverin’ the presents.
And so as you might expect, as soon as she’s done, she makes preparations to–
…wait, no? They just… give up on that idea?
Tell these (lovable) dinguses to go find an example of Christmas spirit instead?
And… the next 40 minutes (sans commercials) is them getting stranded…
…having a misunderstanding with a local mayor that’s solved early… but they don’t know that, so the plot point keeps progressing…
…which eventually meanders along to these chaps…
…which, let’s be perfectly clear, are the undeniable best parts and carry the special on their backs.
And are basically just the animators flexing nonstop. It’s great.
So when they eventually get back… Santa just decides he feels better.
No, seriously.
Mrs. Claus doesn’t need to step in, he just feels better and decides to do his job.
Forget caffeine, man, Christmas spirit is the ultimate productivity tool.
That’s it.
That’s the ending.
…
…c’mon, Rankin-Bass, just let Mrs. Claus have her arc already
Chekhov’s Gun: “If there’s a rifle hanging on the wall in the first chapter, it should go off by the third.”
Claus’ Musical Number: “If there’s a fun song about Mrs. Claus saving Christmas in The Year Without A Santa Claus, don’t, like, leave us hangin’, dudes, let it be a year without a Santa Claus.”
