Christmas with the Kranks

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Christmas with the Kranks' classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Christmas with the Kranks completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 8 December 2004.

Overall comments and recommendations

Christmas with the Kranks is based on the John Grisham novel ‘Skipping Christmas' and is light entertainment for the festive season. Tim Allen is reasonably entertaining as Luther Krank but the laughs are fairly thin.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie Christmas with the Kranks contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Luther and Nora Krank tearfully farewell their daughter Blair who has joined the Peace Corps and will be away for Christmas. The thought of having Christmas without her is so depressing that Luther decides to skip Christmas, save the $6000 he normally spends and go away on a Caribbean cruise instead. He has to persuade his wife not to put up a Christmas tree, send any cards or have any parties. Nora reluctantly agrees but the neighbours get very upset when the Kranks don't decorate their house with lights or put Frosty the Snowman up on the roof. Bad feelings are further fuelled when Luther refuses to acknowledge the Carol Singers or give to the annual Police Charity.

Then they get a phone call from Blair saying she will be home for Christmas after all and is bringing her new boyfriend/fiancé Enrique. This sends Nora into a flat panic and Christmas in now fully back on the agenda with some funny results.

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some comic violence in this movie:

• One of the neighbours is electrocuted putting up decorations, although he is not seriously hurt
• Luther hates the neighbour's cat and kicks it and steps on it. (not viciously)
• Carol singers all slip on ice
• The cat becomes frozen stiff
• Luther chases a boy, knocks him over and he goes flying
• Nora has a trolley fight with another shopper
• Luther falls off the roof but is saved by being caught in a rope; he jokingly says it was a suicide attempt
• A neighbour gets an electric shock while plugging in a Christmas tree
• A policeman chases a thief, slips on icy steps and knocks himself out
• The thief's head is pushed into a car window
• Father Christmas knocks the thief out

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

Some younger children in this age group might be scared by the above mentioned scenes; however they are mostly done in a comic context.

Over the age of eight

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Children over the age of eight would not be scared by this movie.

Sexual references

Nora complains that she only has sex once a week on a Saturday night.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is no nudity but Nora Krank appears in a very brief bikini.

Use of substances

There is drinking of alcohol—at home, in a hotel, at a party.

Coarse language

There is no coarse language.

The movie's message

The message of this movie is that Christmas is about family and friends.

Values parents may wish to encourage include:

• community spirit
• kindness
• generosity.

Parents could take the opportunity to discuss with their children what their own family's values are in respect of:

• Christmas being a highly commercialised business
• the true meaning of Christmas
• community pressure to conform.