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List Price: $17.97 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 827
Released: November 25, 2008 |
| Our Price: Too low to display |
| Used Price: $2.92 |
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Genre: Christmas
Rating: PG
Release Date: 25-NOV-2008
Media Type: DVD
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:
Not 16:9 aspect - Black bars top and bottom/ 2:4:1 
2009-12-02 - Unlike some of the other reviewers, I enjoyed this movie enough to buy it in Blu-Ray, but I am not happy that I spent the extra money to get a Blu-Ray movie advertised as 16:9 that actually only plays on my HD TV/Sony Blu-Ray with black bars top and bottom. I thought perhaps there would be a video setting I could change, but not matter what is changed on the player, it is the same black bar top and bottom. This is the last time I buy a Blu-Ray movie from Amazon because I will have no way to tell what aspect I am getting. I will stay with the cheaper DVD widescreen format that actually fills the screen.
Fred Claus/Fountainhead review 
2009-12-02 - Thank you. I am very happy and satisfied with my movies Fred Claus.
Received promptly in great condition. Thanks again.
More of Elizabeth Banks please... 
2009-11-30 - A wonderful feel-good Christmas movie, Fred Clause, brings to the screen the story of Santa Clause's older brother whose life took a turn toward naughtiness following the birth of the sibling who the world will refer to as St. Nicholas.
Fred Clause is a film about Christmas, human relations, hope and second chances as well as trust, love, and inner strength.
Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Kevin Spacey, Elizabeth Banks (who is GORGEOUS!) and the rest of the cast, have done an excellent job with their performances, though Rachel Weisz seems out of place in this movie, i.e. an Englishwoman handing out traffic violation tickets in Chicago is rather unlikely. Nevertheless, the setting, the plot, the dialogues, the humor, and the music are all very good!
Though not a masterpiece, Fred Clause is a movie definitely worth watching as it will surely provide for an evening's entertainment!
The dark heart of Christmas? 
2009-11-28 - After watching this movie I realized I had not laughed once, and that's rare for me. There are other 'modern' Christmas movies that carry off the sarcastic side of Christmas without letting cynicism sink it to this kind of low. Kevin Spacey, a phenomenal actor, was given a banal bit part which he tried his best to carry off, that of an efficiency expert who carries Santa's "pink slip" in his pocket. Paul Giamatti and Vince Vaughn played it very convincingly, but the creative talents of Rachel Weisz and Miranda Richardson had no place in which to shine. The ending did nothing to lift spirits, and it was frankly weird when at the end Fred and Nick's mother implies that her own son (Fred) is a little outclassed by his love interest, who plays a meter maid (Rachel Weisz). What kind of mother says that about her own son (even in real life), especially after he just saves Christmas?
Is it almost over? 
2009-11-24 - If I hadn't paid money to rent this last year, I would have turned it off after 30 minutes. My nine year old picked this movie after seeing the previews advertised over and over and after 30 minutes he left to go watch t.v. in his room. The previews contained all the funny parts so it left the movie pretty dull. Definitely not a heartwarming, get in the Christmas spirit kind of movie. Ho, Ho, Ho, Hum!
