Ernest Saves Christmas

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Christmas 2019

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Taking you back to my childhood, here's my first review to introduce a seemingly long-forgotten icon for fun, family movies, Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney).​ And what better place to start with a family fun favorite than with a family fun Christmas movie?

But first, a wee bit of history. In 1980, a series of ads started up, featuring Ernest advertising a variety of products from popular, well-known stuff like Sprite to lesser known things like Convenience Coffee. We was a sort of go-to spokesperson for the time.

His popularity took off, and soon enough, movies were made. First 'Ernest Goes to Camp' (widely regarded as the best), then this. There was also a lesser known film in the early 80s no one talks about called 'Hey Vern, It's My Family Album'. Anyway, potential review projects for the future. For now, let's just see how Ernest saves Christmas.

The film opens with Santa (Douglas Seale), arriving in Orlando, Florida. In doing his research, he has come to Orlando in search of his best potential successor, a children's entertainer named Joe Carruthers (Oliver Clark). As the film unfolds, we can see certain character traits to Joe that show us exactly why he's the right person for the job.

Ernest comes into it when he picks Santa up at the airport as a cab driver. See, the fun thing about Ernest is that he's that guy with about a million different jobs, seeing as he advertised so many different types of products. Anyway, Ernest hears the whole story from Santa and has no trouble believing that he's telling the truth about everything. Ernest decides to help Santa out along the way, lest there be no Christmas that year. But can they convince Joe to take over such a responsibility?

We are also introduced to a girl named Harmony (Noelle Parker). She's the typical bratty kid of the late 80's/early 90's era who needs to become a better person by the end of the movie, while not being altogether so terrible. her worst crimes are being a non-believer, and being a somewhat greedy girl. She's there to be the lesson that needs to be learned, while Ernest is there for the fun of things, even though he's the main character.

Hands down the best part of this movie though, is Santa, himself. Even watching it now, Seale is awesomely convincing in the role. He has an innocence about him, a twinkle in his eye, a charming smile, and the way he talks just makes you wanna listen. I dunno who my favourite Santa would be, but he's definitely up there.

This IS the typical Christmas plot of "do something, or there will be no Christmas this year", but in all honesty, I can't think of very many that came before this. That's just speaking personally though, I'm sure I'm mistaken. All I know is it's the first one I can remember. I loved this one as a kid, and I think I remember a lot of my peers liking it too. The only thing about watching it now is that it's dated. 

For me, this one was more of a nostalgia thing, and I think it could be fun for audiences who were kids at the time. As for kids today, I couldn't promise they'd be into it. It definitely looks and feels like it comes from the 80's, and so many "saving Christmas" movies have come since that it's almost obsolete to youth nowadays. As for me, I still had fun with it, and it was a nice trip down memory lane.

3/5

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