BY JOHN BILLINGER
We’re now at the point where Christmas is just a few days away, but at this current time, we’ve yet to have actual snow this month. I think Christmas and snow go hand in hand, and if you don’t have snow during Christmas, then that’s just depressing. I don’t like snow any other time of year, but during Christmas, it’s fine, and it’s pretty much a staple of most Christmas films.
They almost all have snow.
It’s a tradition in these films, and as with everything else in Christmas genre films, snow has been explored as a plot device. There are films about people being snowed in, there was a Disney Channel movie I remember about these kids creating a device to make it snow in California, and of course, there have been films about Snowmen coming to life.
Undoubtedly, the most popular of these talking snowmen films is Frosty the Snowman, but we’re not talking about that one. We’re talking about Jack Frost. Just to clarify, we’re talking about the 1998 family film Jack Frost and not the 1997 slasher film Jack Frost. Big difference, Plus, this film stars Michael Keaton.
Keaton has had a storied career. He actually started on Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood of all places, and slowly worked his way into bigger films, and has played all sorts of characters from Batman to Birdman, as well as Mr. Mom and Beetlejuice. But what about the time he played a dead guy coming back to life as a snowman? Yeah, it sounds like a hokey concept for sure, but certainly, a good writer and director could get something good out of the concept, right? Let’s find out.
Jack Frost is about a rock musician named Jack Frost (played by Michael Keaton), who is constantly away from his wife and son due to constantly performing and recording songs. When he decides to drive home for Christmas during a snowstorm, he dies in a car accident. One year later, his son is understandably depressed that his father is dead, so he builds a snowman in his father’s memory. Then through some Hallmark-level holiday magic or something, his father comes back to life in the form of the snowman, to finally spend time with his family.
I’m split when it comes to this movie.
I can’t decide if the premise is heartwarming or lame. On one hand, you got something of a touching story here between a father and his son. Practically, the first third of the film establishes the fact that the father is never around for his kid. They certainly have a loving relationship, but he just can’t stand still. Then the father dies, and the film does a good enough job establishing how his death has affected the kid, and now you got this plot where the father comes back from the dead. He’s finally spending time with him. It’s certainly touching in a way.
On the other hand, he comes back to life as a snowman, and his character’s name is literally Jack Frost. A concept that even the character in the film says isn’t even clever. It doesn’t sound like the plot for a big screen film; it sounds more like the plot you’d get for a Disney Channel Original Movie or Hallmark film from when I was a kid. It’s dumb, schmaltzy and full of lame jokes.
An example of one of the lames is a scene where the Snowman falls, is pushed against a snow plow and is split into three parts, and has to literally put himself back together. When he sees what’s happened to his body he says, “Talk about your separation anxiety.”
There’s even a momentary pause for the audience to laugh. Of course, I didn’t laugh. After he puts himself back together he says, “Boy, I’ve had to put myself back together after a few rough nights, but this is ridiculous.”
Just imagine a bunch more jokes like this.
Not an appealing-looking creature to come back from the dead as. As a side note, the original Jack Frost costume is currently on display in the Hutchinson Salt mine.
As with the plot, the special effects are also in a similar boat. I can’t say for certain if they’re decent or awful. The Snowman effects were a mix between CGI and puppetry. The CGI is late 90s CGI and is not up to par with the current standards of CGI and looks awful. No question.
The puppetry was done by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. A top-tier effects studio, but they turned in a mid-tier product. Some people say the snowman looks unsettling, but I’m not sure if there’s a way to create a live-action snowman and not have it look like how it does in the movie. As for the puppet effects themselves, it’s hard to describe.
I think when you see the film on pause it looks ok, but when the scenes are in motion and you see this supposedly magical creature, he doesn’t look magical. In my opinion, he just looks like a dumb fake puppet. Or like he wants to eat you, like what some viewers say.
On to some positive thoughts on the movie, I think it’s a nice looking film. The story is set in a Rocky Mountain town during a winter storm, so it gives off this small-town American Christmas vibe. It gave me a somewhat nostalgic feeling since the small town portrayed in the film felt somewhat like the town I grew up in during the winter, except I didn’t grow up in the Rockies.
I feel as though most of the cast do a good job with a lazy script. Most of the actors give a decent enough performance. Michael Keaton does a nice enough job, but the script just doesn’t give him much to shine as either a comedic or dramatic actor. The actor who played the kid, Joseph Cross, did a good job with his scenes depicting his grief over the loss of his father. Cross, who’s still somewhat active in the film industry, graduated from child roles to more adult roles in films like Flags of Our Fathers, Lincoln, and Mank.
Overall though, this is what I refer to as a nothing film, and as you read, my thoughts are short on it. It isn’t something that I would ever come back to watch at a later date. It’s a film I’ll probably forget about soon, and if I ever remember, I’ll probably just regard it as a footnote in Michael Keaton’s career.
If you have kids, it’ll definitely distract them. It certainly does its job to basically wave its keys begging for a child’s attention, but it gives very little to look for adults. There are certainly better holiday films to watch. In any case, stay tuned for more weird films in the future…
If you have any films suggestions to torture me with, please email me here: insertemaillater@gmail.com
Side note: For some reason, three of musician Frank Zappa’s children make cameo appearances in the film. I’m not sure why. Maybe because the film is about a rock singer?
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