Santa Baby, 2006 – ABC Family, is the Day 18 selection for my Christmas Movie Review. You might find yourself smiling like an elf if you listen to the links below.

The Beach Boys’ The Man With All The Toys accompanies the opening scene when Mary (Okay, I would’ve named her Merry.) opens the door to her taxi, knocking over a street Santa and steps over him in her rush to a corporate meeting where she wows the board with a hi-tech proposal.

Mary, played by Jenny McCarthy, is working on Thanksgiving to meet her new deadline when she gets a call that her dad had a heart attack. Dad, as in Santa, is played by George Wendt (not a trace of Norm on Cheers to be found), and makes one of the best Santa’s I’ve ever seen.

With the Mrs.

The main conflict is Mary wanting to do Christmas her way when she steps in to help – innovative, bold, and efficient, without realizing what she’ll lose in the process – tradition, trust, and magic.

Mary still has a lot to learn from the old man.  Her figuring that out is what drives this movie.

This had to be a fun movie to make for everyone involved, including the writers – and it shows.  I especially loved Mrs. Claus humming Santa Baby (Eartha Kitt version here) when her daughter arrived home via dogsled.

All the acting was stellar.

The irrepressibly happy, one-track-minded elves taking cookie breaks, gingerbread man breaks, candy cane breaks, and hot chocolate breaks to elude Mary’s organizational efforts was stand-alone entertainment.

Though sweet, I wanted to see more spark and passion between Mary and her old beau, Luke, so I had to take 1/2 a point off for that.

This movie ranks 4.5 of 5 double-swooped candy canes. ♥♥♥♥1/2
(I couldn’t find an image, so you’ll have to watch the movie to see them.)