20 Ways to Ruin Christmas

Ah, don't you love Christmas? The carol singers, the snowmen, the presents, the Christmas tree in the corner of your room? And you can't forget about good old Santa. He is real you know, he actually does deliver presents via chimneys. It's all real. OK, stop staring at me. But really, what could be nicer than to watch a movie about Christmas. What could be more pleasant than learning how to...ruin Christmas?! And to add insult to injury, Daniel Martin of JDR fame, known for animating large amounts of pointless deaths, is directing this?! What is going on?!

I'm just kidding. It's all good fun. In this movie, Salvador randomly goes around trying to amuse himself by wreaking havoc. Quite a few of the twenty ways are hilarious, and even though each one lasts less than ten seconds, with the exception of the last one, the pace is timed just right. You can always manage to keep up with the pace and you always seem to know what is going on. Even if you are too busy giggling, you can still take it all in, and the frantic pace is convenient too, as there are a staggering twenty ways to get through in just a few minutes. Twenty ways?! Yes, twenty. Daniel Martin has thought up of no less than twenty ways to screw up Christmas. What an imaginative mind.

Scenery is suitably Christmas-like, with snow, Christmas decorations, trees and the like frequently seen. Animations too are very fluid, which is always very welcome. For the majority of the movie, everything goes at a nice, fluent speed, and you do get into it, but unfortunately the final and twentieth way was a letdown. It is rather slow, dull, and disappointing, completely different to the other nineteen amusing ways. Even though this is a major gripe, the first nineteen easily redeem it to make this movie very enjoyable, light-hearted and bright.

And if that's not enough, why not re-watch the movie a few times and try to get all twelve community and movie references? It's a great way to kill a few minutes, and credit goes to Daniel Martin here for spicing this film festival highlight up with small extras. The movie also kindly informs us that The Prowling will be his next movie release, which is very reassuring to know. It's not as good as JDR Revival. It's not even as good as Actor's Day. But 20 Ways to Ruin Christmas is a nice way to spend a few minutes in the festive season of Christmas. Go and knock yourself out with it.

Score: 78/100