Story
It’s almost Christmas in the fictional English town of Wellington-on-Sea, where a heavy snowstorm has arrived. Danny (voice of Jack Wisniewski) is struggling with sadness and loneliness, because his father can’t make it home due to the weather and his mother is stuck at work. Additionally, he can’t seem to get his crush, Sam (voice of Zazie Hayhurst), to notice him! Meanwhile, Sam is worried that her naughty twin sister Charlie (voice of Sienna Sayer) won’t get any presents from Santa because of her bad behaviour.
After a group of parents head off for a wedding, local rebel-girl Bernie (voice of India Brown) is left in charge of the other children. When the parents get stuck on the way home, Bernie plots to make this year’s Christmas the most fun ever.
The parents finally make it home, but now Bernie’s younger sister has gone missing. The whole town rallies together to search for her and she’s finally found in a beach hut with some runaway turkeys. In the end, the town has a happy and memorable Christmas despite all the trials brought on by the blizzard.
Themes
Family separation; death
Violence
That Christmas has some violence. For example:
- Charlie writes a sign saying, ‘Santa gimme, or else.’
- A woman has snow fall onto her and she says, ‘Help, I’ve been murdered!’
Sexual references
That Christmas has some sexual references. For example:
- Santa slips and lands on his crotch on the top of a pointed roof.
- Eggplants run across the stage during the nativity play.
- Danny asks his mom if she had a ‘hot date’ because she was out late working.
- Santa’s reindeer flirts with a reindeer Christmas decoration.
- Santa’s reindeer says, ‘My unmentionables are turning into snowballs out here.’
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
There’s no substance use in That Christmas.
Nudity and sexual activity
That Christmas has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:
- A bike rider’s bottom is in the face of the rider behind him.
- Danny’s pants slip down, revealing his underpants.
- Danny has a crush on Sam. At the end of the movie, they hold hands.
Product placement
That Christmas has some product placement. For example, Shaun the Sheep and WhatsApp.
Songs include: Levitating by Dua Lipa; Nessun Dorma by Giacomo Puccini; Christmas Lights by Coldplay.
Coarse language
That Christmas has some coarse language. For example, ‘Death to Trapper’s terrible test’, ‘holy flipping moly’, ‘flipping heck’, ‘damn it’ and ‘moron’.
Ideas to discuss with your children
That Christmas is an animated Christmas movie based on the books The Empty Stocking; Snow Day; and That Christmas by Richard Curtis. Despite its heartwarming message, it tackles mature themes like family separation and death. It also has scenes that might be scary for younger viewers, mild coarse language and sexual references. The movie is therefore not suitable for children under 5 years, and parental guidance is recommended for children from 6-8 years.
These are the main messages from That Christmas:
- Love can be found in different places.
- It’s important to see things from other people’s perspectives.
Values in That Christmas that you could reinforce with your children are family, community, love, self-discovery, perseverance and friendship.
That Christmas could give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like the ethics of caged animals verses free range animals. You could also talk about why some people choose not to eat meat.