That Christmas (2024) Review – A New Holiday Classic is Born

🎬 Introduction — A Modern Classic? Believe It.

🎄 This review is part of the Best Christmas Movies 2025 – find your next cosy family movie night in our festive guide.

Every year, streaming services dump a truckload of “holiday content” on us. Most of it is background noise—pleasant enough while you’re baking cookies, but forgotten by Boxing Day. That Christmas is different. From the moment the opening credits roll, you can feel the pedigree. Written by Richard Curtis (the man behind Love Actually and Notting Hill) and directed by animation vet Simon Otto, this film aims for the heart and hits the bullseye.

It’s rare to find a movie that balances the modern “messy family” dynamic with the timeless magic of Santa Claus, but That Christmas pulls it off. It doesn’t shy away from the fact that Christmas can be stressful, lonely, or downright disastrous. Instead, it leans into those moments, finding the humor and the humanity in the chaos.

For a busy dad, this is the holy grail: a movie that keeps the kids glued to the screen with slapstick and visual splendor, while giving the adults a genuinely well-written story about parenting, forgiveness, and community. It’s not just “content”; it’s a film.

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That Christmas (Book) (opens in a new tab)

The charming children's book series by Richard Curtis that inspired the film. A perfect bedtime read for December.

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🧠 Story & Themes — Love, Actually (But Animated)

The narrative structure will feel familiar to fans of Curtis’s work: multiple weaving storylines set in a charming British seaside town, all culminating on Christmas Eve. We have a Santa who is making some big mistakes, a lonely boy worried he’s been forgotten, and parents trying desperately to keep it all together.

What makes the story sing is its honesty. It tackles the idea that “good” and “bad” aren’t always clear-cut, especially for kids. One of the central threads involves the “naughty list” and challenges the black-and-white morality that often defines Christmas lore. It asks a question that every parent has probably pondered: is it fair to judge a kid’s entire year on a few bad moments?

The themes of forgiveness and second chances are woven naturally into the plot. It’s not preachy; it’s just… human. There’s a subplot about a teacher that is so quietly devastating and then uplifting that it might just wreck you (in a good way). It captures that specific Christmas ache—the feeling of missing someone, or wishing things were different—and resolves it with warmth rather than saccharine magic.

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🎭 Characters & Performances — A Cast with Character

The voice cast brings a grounded reality to the stylized characters. Brian Cox as Santa is an inspired choice—he brings a gravitas and a slight grumpiness that makes the character feel ancient and real, not just a jolly caricature. He’s a Santa who feels the weight of the job.

The kids in the movie sound like actual kids—chaotic, loud, vulnerable, and funny. There’s a naturalism to their dialogue that is often missing in polished US animations. They interrupt each other, they say dumb things, they get things wrong. It makes the emotional beats land harder because you believe in them as people.

For parents, the adult characters are painfully relatable. The stress of getting the turkey right, the fear of disappointing your children, the exhaustion of the season—it’s all there. But so is the love. The film does a great job of showing that even when parents mess up (and they do, big time in this movie), it usually comes from a place of trying too hard to make things perfect.

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🎨 Visual Style, Animation & Audio — A Painting Come to Life

Visually, That Christmas is a stunner. It steps away from the hyper-realistic style of Pixar or the frantic energy of Illumination and finds its own lane. The character designs have a slightly illustrative quality, reminiscent of classic storybooks but with fluid, modern movement.

The lighting deserves a special mention. The way the film captures the glow of Christmas lights against the blue winter evening, or the cozy warmth of a fireplace, is masterful. It feels cold outside and warm inside. The snow looks crunchy and wet, not just like white pixels.

The score is sweeping and festive without being generic jingle-bells. It knows when to be quiet and let a moment breathe, and when to swell for the big emotional climaxes. The sound design also does a great job of grounding the fantasy elements; Santa’s sleigh and the mechanics of his operation have a satisfying weight and “clunk” to them.

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🗺️ Where It Fits in the Christmas Rotation

The honest challenge with That Christmas is that it arrived into a crowded field. Every family already has a Christmas rotation — the movies that come out automatically in December, the ones the kids demand and the ones the adults quietly look forward to. Finding room for a new entry is genuinely difficult, because the rotation is full.

That Christmas earns its place by doing something different from the competition. Home Alone is built on cartoon violence and kid-power fantasy. Elf is essentially ninety minutes of Will Ferrell at maximum intensity. The Polar Express is a mood piece. Arthur Christmas is a logistics comedy. That Christmas is the one that actually feels like what a family Christmas feels like: multiple overlapping stories, people with competing emotional needs, things going wrong and then going right in ways that were not planned.

The closest comparison is Love Actually, which makes sense given the shared writer. Like that film, it follows several storylines simultaneously, trusts the viewer to track them without constant signposting, and reaches a resolution that is more emotionally satisfying than narratively tidy. Unlike Love Actually, it is rated appropriate for a six-year-old.

The production quality is also worth noting in this context. This is not a Christmas special with a made-for-streaming budget — it is a proper animated feature with a score, a voice cast, and visual ambition. Netflix spent money on this in a way they do not spend on every holiday release. That investment shows in the way the film moves and breathes, and it is part of why it holds up better than most new Christmas content.

Where to slot it: Christmas Eve afternoon or early evening, when you want something that earns its feelings. Not the chaotic energy night — that is Home Alone or Elf. Not the atmospheric wind-down — that is The Polar Express. This is the gather-the-family-on-the-sofa film for when you actually want to feel something together.

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👨‍👧 The Dad Perspective — Why It’s a Keeper

Runtime & Pacing: At around 90 minutes, it respects your time. It moves fast enough to keep the 7-year-old watching, but slows down enough for the emotional beats to land. It’s a perfect “Christmas Eve afternoon” watch.

Suitability: This is a very safe watch for the whole family. There’s some “mild peril” (Santa in trouble, kids in risky situations), but nothing terrifying. The emotional themes of loneliness or feeling “bad” might need a quick chat with very sensitive younger kids, but generally, it’s wholesome.

The “Cry Factor”: Dad warning—there are a couple of scenes that might sneak up on you. If you’re a soft touch for “lonely people finding connection at Christmas” or “parents reconciling with kids,” have a tissue handy. It earns its tears.

Rewatch Potential: High. Because the script is sharp and funny (it is Richard Curtis, after all), it doesn’t feel like a chore to watch again. It has enough layers and background details to support yearly viewings.

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✅ Pros & Cons

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📺 Movie night sorted: thousands of films and shows are streaming on Prime Video — free for 30 days. Worth a look before you buy the disc.

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📌 FAQ — Frequently Asked Questions

Is this related to Love Actually?

Only in spirit! It’s written by the same person, Richard Curtis, so it shares that “weaving storylines” structure and the mix of humor and heart, but it’s a standalone animated family film.

Is it scary for little kids?

Very unlikely. There are moments of tension and characters in mild danger (snowstorms, roof slips), but it’s very gentle compared to something like The Nightmare Before Christmas or even A Christmas Carol.

Where can I watch it?

It is a Netflix original, so it is streaming exclusively on Netflix.