Jingle All The Way

Chris Columbus may only have produced Jingle All the Way, but his fingerprints are all over it. Like the Columbus-directed Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire and Nine Months, it's the story of an irresponsible adult who, after plenty of slapstick misadventures, learns What's Really Important; in this case, Arnold Schwarzenegger reaches enlightenment on a Christmas Eve search for his son's favorite toy. There's some enjoyable physical comedy here, but the premise is undercut by the casting of Schwarzenegger. He's simply too imposing a presence as the frustrated father, especially when 90% of the film's humor comes from property damage, physical injury or some combination of the two--a lighter touch would have been better. Jingle All the Way simply takes the round hole of Columbus' preferred formula and tries to pound in a very large square peg. (S. Renshaw)[DVD Review--November 16, 2004--Fox, 88 min., PG, $14.98--Making its debut on DVD, 1996's Jingle All the Way  is presented on a flipper disc featuring both widescreen and full screen versions in a solid if unexceptional digital transfer with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound (not mentioned on the DVD jacket) and stereo, and no extras beyond the original trailer and a few terse text cast bios. Bottom line: unless you're collecting all of the Governator's films, this is still pretty optional.][DVD Review—Oct. 16, 2007—Fox, 122 min., PG, $19.98—Making its third appearance on DVD, 1996's Jingle All the Way (Family Fun Edition) sports a solid transfer and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. DVD extras include both the original theatrical and new extended versions (the latter with 20 minutes of bonus footage), “The Making of a Hero” featurette on creating the Turbo Man action figure character (16 min.), eight minutes of “Super Kids” superhero wishes, a “Turbo Man: Behind the Mask” featurette (8 min.), the DVD games “Guess the Gift” and “Christmas Rush,” a photo gallery, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a so-so holiday flick.][Blu-ray Review—Jan. 6, 2009—Fox, 89 min., PG, $34.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1996's Jingle All the Way (Family Fun Edition) features a great transfer and includes a 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack. Blu-ray extras are almost identical to the previous DVD release (minus a pair of DVD games and a photo gallery), including both the original theatrical and new extended versions (the latter with 20 minutes of bonus footage), “The Making of a Hero” featurette on creating the Turbo Man action figure character (16 min.), eight minutes of “Super Kids” superhero wishes, a “Turbo Man: Behind the Mask” featurette (8 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: Jingle looks good in Blu, but is still an unexceptional holiday film.]