Santa Jaws feels like a complete movie rather than simply a farcical idea padded into a 90 minute product.
What hath Sharknado wrought? Ever since 2013’s bizarro CGI shark movie aired on SyFy, there have been a rash of whacked out shark movies on the channel. Sharknado wasn’t the first but it was the most popular of these campy and implausible flicks. Films like Trailer Park Shark, Dinoshark, and Avalanche Sharks have since become a staple of the channel’s Saturday night movie offerings. 2018’s Santa Jaws is a rare instance of one of these high concept shark movie ideas that actually works. It’s completely ridiculous but also manages to be thoroughly enjoyable at the same time.
Cody (Reid Miller) is an aspiring comic illustrator. Along with his friend Steve (Hawn Tran), he has co-created a comic called Santa Jaws, which features a great white shark sporting a Santa hat on its dorsal fin. When Cody receives a magical pen as a Christmas gift from his grandfather, he accidentally brings his toothy creation into the real world. The shark begins hunting down Cody’s family and friends on Christmas Eve. Cody must convince anyone who will listen to him that the town is threatened by a Santa hat-wearing killer shark. That he created. With a magical pen.
Santa Jaws never takes itself seriously but remains fiercely committed to resolving its absurd premise. Unlike a lot of the aforementioned SyFy shark flicks, Santa Jaws feels like a complete movie rather than simply a farcical idea padded into a 90 minute product. It’s a pleasant surprise.
Now, don’t get me wrong, Santa Jaws has issues but they never ruin the fun. Sure, Cody’s teenage problems are clichés and the CGI shark looks like it’s from a PlayStation 2 game, but when a movie is so tongue-in-cheek as this one, these problems are easily overlooked. There are plenty of genuine laugh-out-loud moments and the young cast sells the material as best they can.
One thing I appreciated about Santa Jaws is that there’s a thread of good natured humor throughout the movie. All of the characters are likable even when their actions are not especially smart or well-intentioned. Admittedly, most of the adults are portrayed as clueless, but none of them are mean-spirited or malicious. Of particular note is Clark (Scott Allen Perry,) the owner of a comics shop frequented by Cody and Steve. He could have been written as a total sleazeball but the script subtly casts a sympathetic light on him.
Make no mistake, this remains a movie about a fantasy shark come to life as the result of a magic pen. The shark sports Rudolph-red eyes, Christmas ornament teeth, and is wrapped in Christmas lights. The sound of sleigh bells announce the shark’s approach. In no way is this a movie to be taken seriously. That’s what makes it so much fun.
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
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