Disney+ is just about to go live and we’re here with the reviews you need to make the most of it. You’ll find our guide to all things Disney+ HERE. Today, we have a review of Noelle.
High-concept comedy has a long and satisfying history in the movies, but it’s almost always a matter of matching that high concept to the right star. Noelle provides an excellent case study in what happens when you’ve got someone leading your movie who is clearly talented, but whose talents aren’t quite right for the part.
https://youtu.be/DBDnQkQUTGU
That star here is Anna Kendrick, who plays Noelle Kringle—as in, the daughter of Santa Claus. Growing up at the North Pole with the understanding that her family has a thousand-year history of passing on the red suit to the oldest male heir—which would be Noelle’s brother, Nick (Bill Hader)—Noelle has settled into a role as a behind-the-scenes helper with the Christmas magic. But when Nick disappears a week before the first Christmas he is supposed to take over for his father, Noelle has to head out into the real world for the first time, accompanied by a veteran elf (played by Shirley Maclaine), to find Nick and bring him home.
The result is a premise that’s kind of a hybrid between The Santa Clause and Elf, though with more of an emphasis on the latter. Much of the humor is built around Noelle’s unfamiliarity with certain common events and items from our everyday experience—though there’s also a subplot involving Noelle’s tech-minded cousin Gabe (Billy Eichner), next in line to be Santa if Nick can’t be found, taking a hard-line approach to who’s naughty and who’s nice. With a resolution that’s a foregone conclusion almost from the moment the plot kicks in, it’s all about whether what happens along the way is funny enough to keep you engaged.
And the problem is that what might have been laugh-out-loud funny is instead, most of the time, just gently amusing. While Kendrick is a wonderfully appealing screen presence, and perfectly charming in the role, she just doesn’t have the outsize personality demanded of something like this; think about what Will Ferrell, in particular, brought to Elf, and you’ll understand that the material isn’t nearly as important as finding the right actor to bring it to life. It’s a silly scene when Noelle is handed a tube of sunblock for the first time and tries eating it, but that kind of moment needs someone who can play it BIG. It’s hard not to wonder what, say, Kristen Wiig or Melissa McCarthy might have done with exactly the same scenes to make them truly memorable.
Noelle offers some sweetly satisfying moments and an effective big speech about the spirit of Christmas, and it’s a pleasant surprise when writer/director Marc Lawrence (Miss Congeniality) introduces Noelle to a divorced single-dad private investigator (Kingsley Ben-Adir) but doesn’t feel obliged to turn them into a romantic couple. With its warm heart and a few silly bits involving a CGI baby reindeer, it’s the kind of movie that families might enjoy as a good-natured holiday diversion. The thing that can turn such holiday diversions into holiday classics—a comedy star taking the concept to the next level—is one present this movie can’t put under your tree.
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