Noelle

Santa Claus has passed away, I know right, should have gave a spoiler alert on that one. Leaving behind his two kids Nick (Bill Hader) who will take over as the new Santa in his father’s footsteps. Noelle (Anna Kendrick) on the other hand likes to talk to a CGI rendered fly baby white reindeer. Noelle is a Disney+ original movie that lets you know right away as they walk over Mickey ear shaped tiles in their North Pole home that this movie is going to be just as cheesy as Mickey’s favorite treat. When the training of Nick does not go well, he goes away for a weekend of R&R and does not come back. It will be up to Noelle and Elf Polly (Shirley MacLaine) to travel to Phoenix, Arizona team up with a Private Investigator for a Christmas pun filled fish out of water story to bring Nick back to the pole. Meanwhile Noelle and Nick’s cousin, Gabriel (Billy Eichner), has been named Santa until if when Nick returns, the problem is, Gabriel has his own agenda of digitizing and modernizing all the and entire Santa processes. Can Noelle find Santa and get him to believe in himself in time for Christmas. But… What if neither Nick nor Gabriel are meant to be the next Santa, is the world ready to change a tradition?

Q: What makes this Santa fish out of water story different from the rest?
A: Anna Kendrick is probably going to be the best answer I can give due to the way she is able to play the clueless character while still coming off as charmingly sweet.

Q: What differentiates this being on Disney+ rather than being on say Netflix?
A: The characters literally walk across Mickey ear shaped tiles.

Q: Is this family friendly?
A: Of course, it is a Disney+ launch title after all. I do think maybe 10 and up will get the most of it the humor as there is a quite a bit based on contemporary technology which younger ones might not get. But hey there is a cute white CGI reindeer named Snowcone to keep those younger ones interested.