Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
It's an unforgettable Christmas for the townsfolk of Wellington-on-Sea when the worst snowstorm in history alters everyone's plans — including Santa's.
That Christmas is a warmly received animated holiday film based on Richard Curtis's stage play, featuring an ensemble of interweaving Christmas stories in a charming British seaside town. The plot is heartfelt and episodic but follows fairly familiar holiday-movie conventions of misadventures and reconciliations. The voice acting is competent and charming without being especially distinctive. The 3D animation is pleasant and functional but not visually ambitious or particularly memorable compared to top-tier animated features. Novelty is limited — while the Richard Curtis sensibility adds some British wit, the snowstorm-disrupts-Christmas premise and anthology-style structure feel well-trodden. The ending delivers the expected warm holiday resolution satisfyingly enough.