Overstuffed storylines ooze warmth but skimp on substance

(PG, 92 minutes, Netflix)

3 stars

I didn't know Richard Curtis was born in New Zealand. The writer of such quintessentially English films and TV series as Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Vicar of Dibley and Blackadder didn't move to Britain until he was 11.

Curtis has also written children's stories and here, working with co-writer Peter Souter, he's adapted some of them for this animated Christmas movie.

The story is set in the British coastal town of Wellington-On-Sea (a nod to Curtis's Kiwi origins?) one Christmas and tells the intertwined stories of multiple characters, in the manner of Curtis's earlier Christmas film Love Actually (2003), which is slyly referenced.

Santa Claus (voiced by Brian Cox) narrates the story, concerning a very frantic Christmas for him (it's not exactly relaxing for the townfolk either).

After a school Nativity play that's had a rewrite to bring it up to date - the Three Wise Women bring fresh produce as their gifts and serenade the baby Jesus with Stevie Wonder's Happy Birthday - the following day is a Snow Day.

Poor Danny (Jack Wisniewski), whose father is absent and whose mother (Jodie Whittaker) is a nurse who works long hours, didn't get the message and turns up at school. The stern Ms Trapper (Fiona Shaw) is also there and makes him stay for a day of lessons, though eventually she relaxes - ever so slightly - and they build snow people (in the guise of a physics lesson).

I can see what they were going for with Ms Trapper but she doesn't seem quite scary enough to inspire the fear she instils in past and present students. Her sad backstory is explained with poignant understatement but her emotional breakthrough feels a little too understated. It's not that bathos was needed but a little less British reserve might have given the change more impact, as in the better adaptations of A Christmas Carol.

There are a few other moments that felt a tad dry-eyed but not enough to spoil the movie. And there are American Christmas films for something more overtly emotional: the best of them, like It's a Wonderful Life, manage not to wallow in sentimental goop, but it can be tricky to manage.

Danny, the lonely "new kid" even though he's been at school there for several months, has a secret crush on Sam (Zazie Hayhurst), the anxious and shy girl whose identical twin Charlie (Sienna Sayer) is mischievous and a bit of rebel, in danger of being put on Santa's naughty list. The elaborate gadget prank she pulls on a despised neighbour is a memorable visual gag.

Then there's bossyboots - uh, natural leader - Bernadette (India Brown) and her cute little sister Evie (Bronte Smith), as well as a bunch of other children, parents and other adults including Lighthouse Bill (Bill Nighy), whose mother is dying in hospital.

That Christmas certainly has a lot going on - perhaps a little too much, which is probably the result of tying a few stories together. Things are put together quite well considering all the moving parts though sometimes things feel a little skimped over, like the twins' naughty/nice saga, which directly involves Santa.

This is Lockwood Studios' second production (after Ron's Gone Wrong). It marks the directorial debut of Swiss animator Simon Otto, who was head of character animation for How to Train Your Dragon. It's not as impressive visually as Dragon, but then it wouldn't have had anything like the budget of that film. Given a lot of the action takes place amid snow, the filmmakers have done a good job keeping the characters and other elements colourful so the visuals don't become monotonous.

While this is unlikely to become a seasonal perennial like Love Actually, it's better than a lot of the Christmas movies - animated or live action - that we're offered each year.