Wrapping Up the 2025 Christmas Tour
Rick Retro’s Realm, Project #4: 2025 Christmas Tour – Our last three Substack debuts in our tour have been posted. Christmas leftovers are up next.
Project #4: 2025 Christmas Tour – The last three Retro Review Substack debuts in our tour have been posted. Christmas leftovers are up next.
In the early 1990s, Pure Dark Whimsy was on full display for the three stops on our 2025 Christmas Tour. If you missed those reviews, you can find a summary and links here:
Our next stop is in 1994. The Dark is toned down a bit, but we’re still looking at Dark Whimsy. (😎8.8 | 🌚8 🌝11) Tim Allen becomes cinema’s most well-known Santa in The Santa Clause. It’s a solid Christmas comedy, but I was a little surprised that it made nine of the ten all-time best Christmas movies lists that I looked at, because for me, it was maybe a double, not a home run.
The Santa Clause (1994)
The Santa Clause (1994) — As “Ho, ho, ho!”s go, it’s better than so-so, but more “Oh.” than “Whoa!”, don’t you know.
B+v
Family Suitability
+ ✅3️⃣ OK for older kids. (Grades 4+) | PGa
Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ⚠️0️⃣ Tolerable (Not in alignment with Judeo-Christian values, but focuses more on entertaining, not on advocating its viewpoint or pushing an agenda.)
Our next stop jumped ahead nine years, for our first Christmas film for the 21st century. Elf was an instant Christmas classic, but there are holdouts: It only made nine of the ten all-time best Christmas movies lists that I consulted. At 😎9.9 | 🌚9 🌝13, it’s just a whisker short on Dark to be Pure Dark Whimsy, but it’s top of the scale in Whimsy. Like Buddy the elf dwarfs the other elves, the Whimsy in Elf dwarfs the Whimsy in most other movies! And it’s definitely at or near the top of the list, depending on who you ask, when it comes to the funniest Christmas movies ever!
Elf (2003)
Elf (2003) — The early frontrunner for best Christmas movie of the 21st century delivers non-stop laughs.
A+^
Family Suitability
+ ✅2️⃣ OK for teens and adults. (Grades 7+) | PGa
Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎1️⃣ Fair/Slightly Favorable
On Christmas morning, my gift to you was the Substack debut of my Retro Review of Eureka s4e21 “Do You See What I See?”. This little gem is Pure Dark Whimsy (😎😎10.9 | 🌚10 🌝13) from 2011, and it’s a loving tribute to, and spoof of, animation and old-time Christmas specials.
Now I understand that it was Christmas, and family is a priority over Substack. And I get that this isn’t a famous Christmas film that all of you are curious to learn if I like or dislike the way you do. But I was still disappointed that this review hasn’t received a lot of views yet.
I’m not on Substack expecting to light the world on fire and get tens of thousands of subscribers by reviewing old movies and TV shows. I’m here because I want to encourage people to revisit good memories from their past, and to share good and great entertainment with people who have missed it so far. And this is a television series Christmas episode that I don’t think you should miss! Check out my review and decide for yourself!
Eureka s4e21 "Do You See What I See?" (2011)
Eureka s4e21 “Do You See What I See?” (2011) — The best television series Christmas episode that you probably haven’t seen.
A+^
Family Suitability
+ ✅2️⃣ OK for teens and adults. (Grades 7+) | TV-PG
Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ⚠️0️⃣ Tolerable (Not in alignment with Judeo-Christian values, but focuses more on entertaining, not on advocating its viewpoint or pushing an agenda.)
This completes our 2025 Christmas Tour. I had planned to include the 2025 Christmas Leftovers as part of the tour/project, but last year the 2024 Christmas Follow-Up was a separate project, and I just decided it makes more sense to do it that way again this time. Look for that to happen the first twelve days of January.
In order to fit the 2025 Christmas Tour into its original schedule of 31 days, I have decided to add a little behind-the-scenes tour epilogue in The Realm Report #10, which will be posted on December 31. I’ll share a little bit about my process of debuting reviews to Substack that I previously posted just to a handful of family and friends. And I learned a lot during this project, so I will share some lessons learned and how they will affect the rickretro.com website going forward.
Don't forget the popcorn!
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