I Believe in Santa Claus (1984) Reviews

In this standard children's story, Simon (Emeric Chapuis) wants Saint Nick to please find his parents, who are missing somewhere in Africa, and so he and a friend sneak off during a class field trip to board a plane for Finland, where Santa lives. After Simon and his friend Elodie (Alexia Haudot) arrive in Finland, they find Santa, who takes them to his village and hears the whole story. Before a blink of the eye or tweak of the nose, Santa dashes off to Africa with his helper the good fairy to save Simon's parents from the clutches of a guerrilla group. Along the way some interesting characters make life difficult -- including an ogre (Dominique Hulin) near Santa's village who has a culinary preference for low-fat children. With a little enhancement of the below-par production values, this story might be all the more enchanting to an older and more discriminating set of little viewers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi