Fred Claus

The last kids/fantasy movie I saw recently was "Fred Claus."

Yes, it's a Christmas movie, it's June & I am Jewish. But I had been wanting to see it and it was free On Demand, and there was NOTHING else I wanted to see. So I went for it.

It was definitely cute. Very similar to "The Santa Clause," or any other Christmas movie. I liked the explanation of how Nicholas became Santa (for the purposes of this movie) and was surprised by some of the casting - Kathy Bates, Paul Giamatti (doing a silly, stupid movie) - but enjoyed it.

Once again: predictable, but cute.

The plot: Fred (Vince Vaughn) is the older brother of Nicholas - a jolly, fat child who loves doing good deeds and who, immediately after he was born, smiled and said "ho." Nicholas grows up to become a saint and Fred, who always tried to be the best older brother and was always rebuffed with "why can't you be more like your older brother?"

He eventually grows resentful and angry, and grows up to become a cynical misfit who, while lovable, is also quite alone - despite his girlfriend Wanda (Rachel Weisz).

After getting thrown in jail, he calls his brother for help and strikes a deal that if Fred visits the North Pole, he will get the money he wants.

Fred goes to visit and, of course, chaos follows. Thrown in along the way are Clyde (Kevin Spacey), an efficiency expert who is threatening to close down the North Pole and Willie (the hilarious John Michael Higgins), an elf who is in love with Charlene (Elizabeth Banks).

An amazing cast for a fun and enjoyable kids movie.