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List Price: $17.97 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 680
Released: November 25, 2008 |
| Our Price: Too low to display |
| Used Price: $1.96 |
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
FRED CLAUS (DVD MOVIE)
Description of Fred Claus:
Vince Vaughn is enormously enjoyable as the titular Fred Claus, disgruntled older brother of the better-known St. Nicholas himself, i.e., the North Pole’s very own Santa (Paul Giamatti). A garrulous hustler running from the emotional fallout of the ultimate sibling rivalry, poor Fred keeps trying to find happiness through one failed scheme after another, pushing away the people who care about him most. When brother Santa puts the squeeze on him to help out in the toy factory atop the world, Fred turns the place into one big, raucous party. Unfortunately, he’s unaware that Santa and Mrs. Claus (Miranda Richardson) are under tight scrutiny from an oversight committee (represented by a calculating Kevin Spacey) and could be shut down. The film, directed by David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers), gleams and twinkles the way a holiday movie should, and has plenty of fun material for youngsters, including a wacky chase scene in which Fred goes on the run from a half-dozen, angry Salvation Army Santas. But Fred Claus is also supposed to appeal to hip adults with a taste for ironic farce, and on that score the movie feels like a succession of Saturday Night Live skits more than an organic whole. Still, Vaughn holds everything together with a smart, insightful performance that looks deep into his character’s torment--with more than a few laughs. --Tom Keogh
Fred Claus Reviews:
A loving message about Christmas 
2009-07-25 - I had avoided watching this, thinking it would be a silly story much like the various Santa Claus movies, but after finally watching it I found it to be a delightful, comical and moving tribute to things that matter most. Sibling rivalry and how to love ourselves and not compare or be compared to our peers, how life is full of surprises and often we can rise above our limitations and challenge ourselves, and holding charity in our heart...that everyone has struggles and should be forgiven and accepted. Everyone has a little bit of naughty and nice in them, but everyone deserves a break, or in this case, a Christmas present. That sounds deep, and the message is, but toss in gorgeous settings, a wonderful back story, beautiful score, an excellent cast and lots of laughter between the happy tears that stream down your face, and you have a fabulous Christmas special, especially for adults who may have lost their own zest for the holiday season. Very enjoyable and highly recommended!
Great for kids! 
2009-07-08 - My 5 year old loves this film! It's the first live action film he has ever been able to sit through without being bored, so I knew it was a must have for us! I love watching him imitate Fred when he is singing and dancing with the elves in the workshop!
Fred Claus is a 4 star DVD
2009-06-01 - This is a really good movie if you are looking to sit down and have a nice family night. Vince Vaughn brings back the comedy like he did in dodge ball expect a little dumbed down content wise as this movie is PG. A good Christmas story and it shows that even if people are having different opinion and don't get along in life if they put their mind to it and decided to work together they can work out there issues. It is a feel good story and one that should be checked out. I found my copy for 5 dollars when family video was having a sale and I would try to find it for less the fifteen dollars If you could. Overall a solid movie and definitely work a watch.
WHO KNEW CHRISTMAS COULD BE THIS DEPRESSING! 
2009-05-23 - With a cast this good, its amazing that this film is so bad! The first two thirds of the film are so depressing that I almost couldn't imagine watching this in the holiday season. Of course the ending is predicatable and uplifting, but the journey there is rather dull. It's just too little, too late.
The film is over loaded with special effects and not much else. It's not dark enough to be a black comedy and it's not sentimental enough to give you that classic holiday feeling. HO HO Hummmmmm!
Ho Ho Hum 
2009-05-19 - It's an interesting premise: If Saint Nick had an older brother, what kind of sibling rivalry would there be? Well, we find out in the whimsical, yet still unexciting, FRED CLAUS. It looks like older bro Fred (Vince Vaughn, who goes through the motions, and nothing more) resents his kid sibling Nicholas because Nicholas is just so. . .good. So Fred rebels, and while Nicholas becomes a saint endeared to the entire world his brother is a disgruntled outcast with relationship issues (why is Rachel Weisz in this movie?). Of course, this conflict develops over centuries and centuries, because Santa Claus is immortal, therefore everyone in his family--even those who marry into it--becomes immortal.
Isn't that special?
It's impossible for Paul Giamatti to turn in a stinker, so he's admirable as a stressed-out Santa reaching out to his brother due to a Yuletide crisis. The interaction with Vaughn is one-sided, as Giamatti puts in some effort--Vaughn coasts. Kevin Spacey is the villain, yet the viewer never really understands why. And the beautiful, luscious Elizabeth Banks is utterly, completely wasted in her role as a North Pole bean counter.
One scene, which I immensely enjoyed, saved good ol' FRED CLAUS from two-star status, and that was a Siblings Anonymous meeting, featuring a contrite Roger Clinton and an angry Stephen Baldwin. It was funny, it was entertaining, it was witty, it was engaging--but one scene does not make a movie good. Case in point: FRED CLAUS.
--D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning
