A Fairly Odd Christmas

OK, I know this is live action TV movie based on a cartoon, but I couldn't find a way to watch Merry Wishmas like I was planning on reviewing, so I pretty much got stuck with this. When I was a kid, I used to LOVE watching the Fairly Odd Parents on NickToons thanks to the characters & whacky situations they got in...and then I found out they ruined the show with live action versions! And to be clear, I did watch Grow Up Timmy Turner! just for the sake of this review! Starring Drake Bell (of Drake & Josh fame sadly losing all of his dignity in these movies) as a 23 year Timmy Turner (who for some reason still has his fairies cos of retconning & contradicting rules from the cartoon) & Daniella Monet as his love interest Tootie (Remember? Vicky's nerdy yet cute little sister that had a huge crush on Timmy in the cartoon who's now hot in this?) Anyway, can a little but of Christmas magic make this at least tolerable to watch, or is it worse than it's predecessor? Let's just get this over with & find out!

Story: The main plot involves Timmy has to take over Santa's role after he accidentally causes him to get amnesia & believe he's all of these other people like the Easter Bunny, a clown & a superhero (I'm not joking). Sound familiar?! Not only is the plot essentially ripping off The Santa Clause, but in order for that, Timmy has to get himself off the Naughty List which leads to a very generic & anticlimatic journey/adventure plot which connects with another subplot involving Mr Crocker wanting to put himself on the Nice List by following Timmy to the North Pole & ends up joining him on his quest. The pacing is also awful, as the adventure aspect feels like there's no sense of danger or suspense, even in a scene with a cliched rickety bridge with lava (in the bloody North Pole) just for someone to fall only for the obviously foreshadowed candy canes from earlier to be used to save Timmy! As for the humour, it is all awful! Not once did it get a laugh out of me other than the stupid & contrived plot points as most of the 'humour' consists of dumb slapstick, poop jokes, dated pop culture references, unfunny puns & running gags & completely ridiculous scenes which try way too hard to be funny & end up falling flat. But the worst part would be that there's so many things which come right the hell out of nowhere & express absolutely nothing to the plot (trust me, this is worse than The Wild with things coming out of nowhere), like the random killer gingerbread men (I am not joking), a convinient zipline near dagger shaped candy canes, Tootie speaking penguin to find Timmy,the candy canes as grappling hooks when Timmy falls from the bridge...everything is so contrived, none of it feels plausible! Oh yeah, and they retconned the message involving Timmy doing everything on his own & learning the error of his ways without magic, only for Cosmo, Wanda & Poof to use their magic to help deliver the Christmas presents! I know I have said a hell of a lot, but what I'm trying to say is with atrocious humour, stupid & contrived plot conveniences & no adrenaline or suspense, you're pretty much left with an unpleasant film!

Visuals: Yeah, the film is very clearly low budget judging the visuals in this movie. The use of CGI on Cosmo, Wanda & Poof looks very rubbery & ugly (despite the fact that ironically most of the budget must've been spent on that), along with other things like the giant killer gingerbread men (the more I hear that, the more ridiculous it sounds), the curse thing spreading sadness around the world, the & some of the most obvious green screen effects I have ever seen. The sets around the North Pole all look really fake & phoned in (ESPECIALLY Santa's workshop, the rickety bridge & the dagger shaped candy canes with the very convenient & obvious zipline) that you'd easily mistake it for one of them Asylum movies or a TV game show with the zipline & bridge bits like it was out of Total Wipeout. The costume designs all look ridiculous & cheap, especially on the elves as it's clear they would've worked much better if this were an animated film & it doesn't really help that the Santa in this is one of the most unconvincing Santas I have ever seen thanks to the obvious wig & fat suit! Oh yeah, and forgot to mention they just have someone in a polar bear suit as a polar bear & an obviously animatronic penguin, that's how lazy this is! This & the other live action Fairly Odd Parents movies are proper examples of why over the top cartoony settings & characters do not work in live action at all!

Characters: Oh god, what the hell did they do the characters in this?! Timmy is now just stupid & weak lead thanks to not thinking about the consequences of his actions & doesn't learn anything since the fairies help him out along the way with magic (God, I feel so sorry for Drake Bell cos I really really like him), Cosmo is just annoying all the time, Wanda is pretty much a nag to Cosmo & Poof is entirely useless! As for the rest of the characters, they all feel watered down from their cartoon counterparts. Tootie is now a vapid love interest (at least in the first film she had an active role & was shown to be intelligent) & is practically useless (even Danielle Monet acts like she really doesn't care), Mr Crocker now joins Timmy on his quest & he becomes allies after Timmy saves his life which feels way too out of character, Timmy's parents (with his dad being played by the same guy who voiced him in the cartoon if you're wondering why his voice is exactly the same) are hardly in it at all, Jorgan is useless besides explaining exposition & react to amnesic Santa's stupid antics (and even them it's not funny!) & Vicky only has a small cameo which contributes absolutely nothing. Christmas Carol & Dingle Dan (yes, those are their names) and the most unconvincing looking Santa Claus ever are all really one dimensional & unfunny. Elmer the Elf (played by Tony Cox from them awful Seltzerberg movies obviously just in this for a paycheck), the owner of the Naughty List is pretty much the one to tell. Well, at least Tony (ironically) tries unlike the rest who sound like they really don't give a crap or are hamming it up through clenched teeth! Add in the fact that this features some really really bad acting, I still wonder how Butch Hartman himself managed to (no pun intended) butcher all of his beloved characters!

The best way to describe A Fairly Odd Christmas is one big pile of purple sparkly reindeer poop! The story is just so ridiculous & stupid, the visuals look really cheap & amateur & every single character isn't worth caring about that it's a marvel that this was written by Butch Hartman himself! Even if it was only 66 minutes, this felt like an eternity to watch & I'm honestly insulted by the time I wasted watching this piece of crap (Don't even get me started with A Fairly Odd Summer cos the ending of that completely ruined Fairly Odd Parents for me!) This is one of the worst Christmas related movies or specials I have ever seen in my entire life & considering all the bad ones I've done so far, that's saying a lot! Well...let's just hope Drake Bell manages to find a way to get his career back on track after all of this now that the live action movies are finally over!
Story: 1/10
Visuals: 2/10
Characters: 1/10
Overall: 1/10