Happy Thanksgiving from The Signal Watch!

Happy Thanksgiving from The Signal Watch!  

Like Ann Miller and her witness, we will also warn you what will happen if you tell anyone what you saw here.

May you have a day where the food and company is to your liking!

Happy Birthday to Jamie Lee Curtis

 

Happy Birthday to Oscar Winner and Signal Watch Fave, Jamie Lee Curtis

Disney Holiday Watch: Dashing Through the Snow (2023)

Watched:  11/19/2023

Format:  Disney+

Viewing:  First

Director:  Tim Story

First, the name of this movie is terrible and sounds like it was changed by Disney at some point, giving it a nonsensical, generic holiday name.  Dashing Through the Snow (2023) is not what one should name a movie filmed in a part of the American South which rarely sees snow.  And while a few flakes fall in the movie, it feels tacked on when it happens, and, of course, there is no accumulation.  Ergo: while dashing absolutely happens, no dashing occurs in or through the snow.

This is your standard family movie about a parent who does not believe in Santa, has a child who does, and, of course, Santa is real and takes them on an adventure where Dad learns to believe in Santa, Christmas, family, etc...  via shenanigans.  That this is a predictable formula feels weird, but here we are.

But that doesn't mean any movie is *bad*, it just means we have a framework, and that means it's about execution.  Written and directed by Tim Story, one of the workingest directors in Hollywood, Dashing Through the Snow brings the formula to Atlanta and casts Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges as Eddie, our skeptical dad.  He's on the outs from his wife (played by The Marvels' Teyonah Parris* and officially the tipping point for why I chose to watch this movie) who leaves his daughter with Eddie - a busy, work-aholic dad who is a mental health crisis counselor who takes the calls from the cops when someone might jump.