Jingle All The Way Film Review

Jingle All The Way Film Review (1996) PG

First Thoughts

I expected my Jingle All The Way film review experience to be jolly and light-hearted. I anticipated lots of Christmas cheese and laugh out loud jokes. I wanted an easy to watch film and I also welcomed the opportunity for extra amusement marveling at Arnold Schwarzenegger’s staggering lack of acting skills. I personally think he’s usually terrible at delivering his lines and that it’s actually terrific entertainment just watching him try to act… Especially hilarious when he plays the quintessential all American guy with a distinctive German accent! 

By the way, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this film before. It was probably many, many, many moons ago and I can’t remember anything about it at all. I wanted to watch it again anyway regardless of whether I had or hadn’t seen it before.

You can view the original Jingle All The Way film trailer on YouTube here.

Jingle All The Way Film Review Part One: Overview

Genre

This film is an old school family comedy that’s full of fun and laughter. It offers a bit of heartwarming meaningfulness by highlighting what’s really important at Christmas besides the ever more popular commercial elements.

It’s also a story of forgiveness and primarily, the theme of redemption and atonement shines through.

Plot

Arnold Schwarzenegger is Howard Langston,  an overworked dad who regularly breaks promises to his young son. His young son Jamie, played by Jake Lloyd, is obsessed with a superhero character called Turbo Man and wants nothing more than a highly sought after Turbo Man doll for Christmas. The film is based around Howard’s struggles and adventures to find his son a Turbo Man doll on Christmas Eve.

Finally, after repeatedly messing up more than ever before, his wife Liz, Played by Rita Wilson, and son Jamie completely lose faith in him. But, rather miraculously his luck changes and he eventually pulls through and becomes the heroic father and husband Jamie and Liz could previously only dream of. 

The plot does makes sense and flows overall. The storytelling is easy to follow most of the time. Some of the scenes do cross over into the realm of unbelievably ridiculous fantasy at times. It’s mostly all in good humor though and it’s relatively hilarious throughout, especially if you can forgive some of the more ludicrous but predictable plot twists.

Characters

As I’ve already mentioned, Arnold Schwarzenegger takes the lead role in this film as an overstretched father with mixed up priorities when it comes to family and work. Amazingly, Arnold Schwarzenegger actually pulls off this part brilliantly and his acting isn’t even that bad most of the time.

Although Arnold’s acting did surpass my expectations, the stand out actor in this film for me is Paul Hartman. He was absolutely annoyingly hilarious as Ted Maltin, an overly helpful divorced neighbor who turns into an unlikely love rival for Arnie’s character. Paul Hartman’s voice is really something else; it’s so animated and annoyingly funny! Funnily enough it turns out that Paul Hartman was a regular voice actor on the Simpsons. He has actually voiced some of the most whiny and sly characters on the show such as Lionel Huts and Troy McClure. His voice is perfect for that sort of slimy character we love to hate! 

Camera Work and Animation

There’s one long and beautifully shot scene in particular that stands out to me. It’s set in Mall of America and sees Arnie chasing a small plastic ball all around the mall (don’t even ask!) It’s a great scene and it looked like they got it all in one shot which is a miraculous feat. Either way, it made a seamless spectacle even if the whole scene was based on a rather ridiculous premise. 

The special effects can get a bit silly but they’re not too shabby at all for a film that’s 23 years old. Some of the final carnival scenes must have took a lot of putting together and a lot of cinematic choreography must have been needed to knit together and intertwine the special effects shots together with the real life shots.

There’s also quite a bit of wholesome American Christmas beauty with lots of nice looking, snow swept locations and bright lights and colours.

Jingle All The Way Film Review Part Two: My Thoughts

Good and Bad Points

I did enjoy this film as it was pretty lighthearted and cheery with a bit of a deeper meaning and a heartwarming moment or two that captures the true spirit of Christmas quite well.

I felt some of the plot-lines and scenes were over the top at times and I didn’t enjoy the part where Howard encounters the fake and shady Santa characters and elves.

I also felt that Myron the rival Turbo Man toy hunter and hapless postman character, played by Sinbad, was a little bit far fetched. They made Myron out to be a total moron in a way that didn’t seem totally convincing or authentic; I’m not sure anybody could really behave like him for very long without being certified insane!

There’s a police officer character called Officer Hummell, played by Robert Conrad, who acted like the dumbest and unluckiest cop ever! Yes, his character was funny and ironic but his scenes were maybe just a little bit too ironic and this character was another one that acted totally and unbelievably moronic at times to the point of insanity.

Memorable Scene

I really enjoyed the scene where Howard’s character is trying to apologize and make it up to his son Jamie for missing him receive a martial arts award. Howard tries to act really cool to impress Jamie and keeps doing absolutely anything to try and make his little boy laugh. He keeps fooling around and looking silly; It’s like dad jokes at their best and watching Arnie make a fool of himself is always hilarious. There’s some physical comedy in that scene too which I think Arnie always does really well. Let’s face it, Arnie is probably best known for his body and physique, so watching him use his best known asset in stupid and self ridiculing ways has got to be entertaining. 

Jingle All The Way Film Review: Final Thoughts and To Recommend or Not?

Recommend: Yes

My Rating: 7/10

I would recommend Jingle All The Way to pretty much anyone who enjoys relatively wholesome family comedy entertainment with a bit of fantasy, action and adventure thrown into the mix.

It’s a mostly fun film and definitely not one to be taken too seriously.

I wouldn’t recommend this film to people who might be offended by a few mildly non-PC jokes, a lot of stupidity and some unnatural special effects. The realism takes a spectacularly silly turn once Arnie starts flying around everywhere with some remarkably powerful Turbo Man jet-packs attached to his back! All quite hilarious to witness of course but it’s just remarkable that anyone could survive whizzing around the sky at break-neck speed, having several near misses with various buildings and even breaking windows and flying straight through one families apartment at one point!

This film is a little predictable so I wouldn’t recommend it if you want surprising plot twists and suspense, this probably won’t give you very many thrilling moments. 

It pretty much goes without saying, but if you don’t like Arnold Schwarzenegger, you probably won’t enjoy this film as he’s legit in at least 85% of the scenes. But you might still like it if you want to use it as an excuse to laugh at him acting like a fool in some of the scenes.

Movies Similar To Jingle All The Way

I would compare this film to other family films that star Arnold Schwarzenegger such as Kindergarten Cop and Junior.

There’s also Jingle All The Way 2 which came out in 2014 and stars a completely different cast. That one’s already on my watch list!

I hope you enjoyed my Jingle All The Way Film Review! Keep a lookout for my next Christmas film review which will be Deck The Halls with Danny DeVito. If you want more Christmas content, there’s lots on the blog including my Christmas Memes post here!

Talk to you soon!

Miss Beauty Saver