Miracle on 34th Street (1994)

Miracle on 34th Street (1994)

Directed by: Les Mayfield

Starring: Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott

This was a weird movie to see. I mean, I’ve seen the original Miracle on 34th Street, but casting the old man from Jurassic Park as Santa just stuck in my brain and never quite computed. So weird.

A store hires an eccentric old man to play Santa in their parade and later for the kids in their store. The thing is, the old guy thinks that he actually IS Santa Claus. A competing store hates the way he has somehow kept the store from going under, so they send a guy to taunt him into attacking, and Santa gets arrested. They’re going to commit him to an institution, but his lawyer gets him acquitted by proving that Santa Claus exists.

Now, as opposed to the original where the lawyer has the post office deliver mail addressed to Santa to his client, thus proving that the government recognizes him as Santa, in this one he just gives the judge a dollar bill with the words “In God We Trust” circled, which makes the judge decide that, since they don’t have to have proof for God to exist, they don’t need proof that Santa exists, so this guy goes free. While I commend them on trying to do something other than the most classic scene from the original, this version makes NO SENSE. I mean, the trial isn’t about proving whether Santa exists, though that is part of it, it’s about proving that THIS GUY is Santa. Which it doesn’t do at all. But whatever, Merry Christmas and welcome to Jurassic Park.