Story
Santa (voiced by Shane Jacobson) has been in the job too long and is starting to lose his memory. The law says that means it’s time for Santa to choose a boy to train as his apprentice. The boy must be named Nicholas, be an orphan and have a pure heart. After searching the world over, the council of Santas finds a suitable seven-year-old boy called Nicholas (voiced by Jack Versace) living in an orphanage in Sydney, Australia.Nicholas isn’t sure whether he’ll be able to take on the huge responsibility of being Santa. The current Santa doesn’t want to give up his job, and this adds to the challenge. Fortunately, Santa eventually realises that he must retire, so he does all he can to help Nicholas train to be the best Santa ever.
Themes
Orphans and loss of parents
Violence
This movie has some violence related to bullying. A boy – also called Nicholas – at the orphanage often bullies the other children. For example, he:
- takes a toy from a child just to make her cry
- grabs the good Nicholas and tries to push him
- steals Santa’s magic ball and shrinks all the orphans and their carer
- fights with the good Nicholas on a roof.
Sexual references
None of concern
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
None of concern
Nudity and sexual activity
None of concern
Product placement
None of concern
Coarse language
None of concern
Ideas to discuss with your children
Santa’s Apprentice is a charming Australian/French old-style animated movie that moves at a gentle pace. All the family, including younger children, are likely to enjoy it, although children aged under six years might need help with a few worrying scenes.
The main messages from this movie are about not giving up and working to get over your fears.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include friendship, helpfulness, generosity, kindness, selflessness and sympathy.
You could also talk about bullying and why the bully Nicholas behaves in bullying ways.