The status of Christmas is absolutely not in danger in The Action Pack Saves Christmas (now on Netflix), because what do you expect from a preschooler cartoon show with a title like that, nuclear Xmasageddon? This utterly EPIC 27-minute holiday-themed spinoff of Netflix’s Action Pack series finds the titular fearless tot foursome teaming up with the one and only Santa Claus His Damn Self in order to fend off a heavy assault on the sanctity of the holiday. And it’s obviously not a question of IF this is at all scintillating, but HOW scintillating it is. For toddlers, that is.
ACTION PACK SAVES CHRISTMAS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: The Action Pack is ready for the holidays! They trim the Christmas tree, light the menorah and gear up for a gift exchange. Character inventory: You’ve got Treena (Sydney Thomas), who controls and manipulates plants. Watts (Oscar Reyez) controls and manipulates electricity. Clay (Nevin Kar) controls and manipulates the plasma in his body, allowing him to stretch himself and create force fields. Wren (Julieta Cortes) controls and manipulates whatever one needs to control and manipulate in order to give oneself a variety of animal characteristics – DNA or whatever, one assumes. And Mr. Ernesto (Giancarlo Sabogal) controls and manipulates the Action Pack themselves, being the adult in the room. Oh, and there’s also Plunky, a robot dog who controls and manipulates the laugh-cockles of the audience, most effectively if said audience is four years old or younger.
Suddenly, a conflict presents itself: Local villain Teddy Von Taker (Jason Maybaum) flies around town extracting the joy from the locals with a device I like to call The MEH-ilizer. It literally removes the color from people – they’re nearly black-and-white! – and renders them lethargic and bored, like they’re watching Emily in Paris on an endless loop. Is it worth noting that Teddy Von Taker has a Young Republican side-part hairstyle, wears a private-school blazer and has the general oily air of a trust-fund snot? ABSOLUTELY.
And then, who should appear but Super Santa, with robust physique and viking braid in his beard! No bowlful of jelly on this Claus, nosirree – this one counts calories and hits the gym, bro. And alongside him is none other than his trusty reindeer sidekick Striker, who I presume is the more violence-prone sibling of Prancer. But Teddy Von Taker isn’t intimidated. He unleashes his minion penguins and teddy bears and “Taker Tots” – large, anthropomorphic tater tots, of course – and just won’t go down without a fight.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Action Pack is as close as you can get to PJ Masks without incurring a copyright lawsuit from Disney.
Performance Worth Watching: The Netflix lawyers who inevitably put in countless hours making sure Action Pack is as close as you can get to PJ Masks without incurring a copyright lawsuit from Disney.
Memorable Dialogue: Santa reminds highly impressionable young viewers that Christmas isn’t just about materialism: “Some of the best gifts are something you do for someone.”
Sex and Skin: None.
Our Take: Revamping Santa Claus as a beefcake superhero: Crass blasphemy or welcome innovation? THE DEBATE RAGES ON. Meanwhile, The Action Pack Saves Christmas is a harmless distraction for audiences young enough to not know or care that the content they’re wide-eyed gawping at is shamelessly derivative of several other highly successful multimedia properties, e.g., PJ Masks and Paw Patrol. Several other highly successful multimedia properties that parents find generally annoying in their general loudness and repetitiveness, but nevertheless generally acceptable in their simple moral messaging.
Look any deeper and you’ll see the gross calculation that goes into the Action Pack property, how it sticks to the same basic storytelling formulae and character dynamics of every stinking preschooler-friendly series out there. (See also: Another forgettable Netflix endeavor, Chico Bon-Bon: Monkey with a Tool Belt, which enjoyed a few “seasons” and a holiday special before conspicuously not becoming a crossover smash hit.) The animation is blocky and bright and colorful and the tone is bland and if your toddler grabs the remote and navigates to it, they will not be harmed – or particularly inspired, either.
Our Call: The Action Pack Saves Christmas inspires in me a great and mighty ambivalence. STREAM IT, I guess, if all other holiday options are exhausted. Or don’t. Remember, in the grand scheme of things, none of this matters in the slightest!
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com.