Watched this while I was staying at my brother's and it's definitely a movie the kids will enjoy. For anyone over the age of 13, there's probably not much here.

This is basically Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, but worse. In this universe, Santa isn't a secret and people from around the world train new reindeer to join his team when the old ones retire. Enter Elliot, a miniature horse with big aspirations to join Santa's team, who sneaks in to the reindeer competition in the hopes of proving himself and saving his farm from bankruptcy. You can fill in the blanks from there.

Like a lot of bad Christmas movies, the problem here is cynicism. The elves are grouchy and tired of working so much, and the reindeer are all ego-driven jocks. Santa himself is barely in the movie and looks more ripped than jolly. It just doesn't evoke the holiday spirit and feels more like a sports movie, given the reindeer competition is framed like the olympic games.

Things get even weirder when it's revealed that the only reason the reindeer can fly is because they eat Mrs. Claus' magic cookies. The movie treats these sort of like edibles -- a goat character eats too many of these "magic" cookies and begins tripping out, having hallucinations as she finds she can no longer control herself. Other parts of the movie treats these cookies like steroids, as its discovered some of the reindeer are cheating by eating extra cookies to give them an advantage in the competition.

The ending is complete garbage; after ignoring the main plot thread for 75% of the movie, Elliot rushes home to save his farm only to find out the farm saved itself, off camera, and there was never anything to worry about to begin with.

Merry Christmas, I guess?

The animation is not the best - let's get this straight from the beginning. The dialog could have been better on certain occasions too. Still the movie is fine for little ones and those who are willing to cut this some slack and accept it for what it is - not perfect, but decent enough.

Some things may feel muddled and a bit deluded and tough to comprehend in the story. But overall it is a story about someone who wants to break a standard! You may not agree with this social message, you may like to think in boxes and certain structures that people or things are not supposed to break out of. For everyone else, give it a try. Worse things could be seen - believe that

There is this old Danish song that says Xmas ends in Easter. Another animal who wants to be a reindeer cliche cartoon. The background animation of North Dakota is fine, but not the same to say about the character animation. Good to stream for a Xmas party with the whole family, but no Xmas masterpiece.