Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Good start, but then it gets ruined

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This latest installment of the beloved holiday film tried to succeed, but alas, all of it's efforts failed, particularly in comparison with the two previous versions. In my opinion, once you're seen the 1947 version with Maureen O'Hara and John Payne, this failure becomes obviously and painfully apparent. There is more heat in a winter snow storm than in the odd pairing of Dylan McDermott and Elizabeth Perkins. It just seems to be "trying to hard" to be the equal of the original, updating the events to make it more au current, all the while the characters and performances seeming forced and stereotypical, without the true spirit of the B&W classic (with the sole exception of an always superb Richard Attenborough in the leading role). It appears that in a desperate attempt to come up with a truly good Christmas movie, all they've managed to do is reheat last night's Christmas dinner.

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" director John Hughes has done an admirable job reworking writer & director George Seaton's Santa Claus on trial classic "Miracle on 34th Street" but he has made some interesting as well as creative changes with the narrative. The names of various characters have been altered and certain incidents from the original have been enlarged. First, the psychiatrist named Sawyer has been omitted. Second, Hughes has added some melodrama in the form of a villainous department store owner struggling to implement a takeover bid. This villain has a henchman who exploits the drunken Santa Claus that Kris Kringle revealed. The names of popular department stores, such as Macy's and Gimbals', have been altered, too, to fictional stores. .Hughes has taken certain liberties that were not done in the original. Elizabeth Perkins is far more reserved than Maureen O'Hara as the heroine, but she is incredibly sincere. Dylan McDermott is perfect as John Payne's replacement who is an attorney who desperately sets out to woo the Perkins heroine. If anybody bestows a sense of dignity to this respectable remake, actor/director Richard Attenborough does so as Kris Kringle. The strong supporting cast consists of James Remar as the rival department store owner's henchman; J.T. Walsh as the public prosecutor, and Robert Prosky plays Judge Henry Harper. Unfortunately, the remake lacks the passion of the original. There is no mail bag scene, and the Judge issues his ruling based on the circled words "In God We Trust" on a one dollar bill that secures Kringle's release. Like the original, the Santa Claus definitely believes that he is the one and only Santa. This "Miracle on 34th Street" is appropriate for our enlightened, cynical age and doesn't touch the commercialism of Christmas issue. Les Mayfield does a good job of shepherding the remake through to its inevitable conclusion. Alvin Greenman is the only cast member from the original, but he doesn't play a department store janitor this time. Instead, he is cast as a doorman. Although it lacks the spontaneity of the original, you may enjoy this version more. Inevitably, the two romantic leads unite at fade-out.

While I believe a great film can be updated to fit more recent times, the 1994 remake of the 1947 classic Miracle on 34th Street is an example of how good intentions can go astray.I thought Richard Attenborough did a fine job in the lead role. The spirit of the film was truly much like the original version. Where they went wrong was getting too heavily into the serious plots—the scenes between Mrs. Walker and the attorney were too long and too detailed, without being humorous at all.{Spoiler alert} One scene near the end was troubling to me. They appeared in a Catholic church after midnight Mass and the priest was happy to marry them even though they obviously had not agreed to get married beforehand. This isn't Las Vegas. Any normal minister on seeing that the couple had not really planned on getting married, but were just then considering it, would have wanted to wait until they were sure before performing a ceremony.What really hurt was that most of the scenes from the original that made it such a fun film were eliminated in the remake. The comical interaction between Kris and Susan as he tried to let her learn to pretend, and, most significantly, the great courtroom scene where all the huge bags of mail were carried in, convincing the judge that the postal service considers Kris to be Santa were not in the remake.In fact, the "big courtroom scene" had the judge all ready with his verdict, then, on seeing one familiar phrase on the back of a dollar bill, suddenly rendering a totally different verdict on a rather flimsy bit of logic. In the original, the judge's dilemma was saved by thousands of pieces of unexpected evidence. In the remake, the judge changed his mind over seeing something that he could easily have thought about on his own—the concept of trusting someone or something you can't see is not unique to the phrase on the our money.I will agree that the 1994 Kris had more reason to strike his antagonist in the remake—but the scenes of him being tormented were not fun to watch. When he struck at the man, he swung his cane quite hard—hard enough to have done some real damage, which is something I'd like to think a real St. Nicholas would simply not do. In the original, he was simply frustrated at the annoying Macy's employee and gave a light tap that clearly would not have seriously hurt anyone.Even the opening scene in the remake removed the humor of the original. I remember well how I was impressed the first time I saw the original, where Kris is walking down the street and happens to see reindeer and a Santa figure in a display window, and he knocks on the door and proceeds to instruct the man that he has the reindeer misarranged. The 1994 version simply has Kris standing at a stop light and when the man beside him says that the little boy next to him thinks Kris is Santa Claus, he leans over and whispers, "I am Santa Claus." Ho-ho-dull.

I watch it every year. I've read negative reviews of Mara Wilson's performance but I think she is charming and smart but not at all obnoxious or know-it-all as others have said. She is acting over maturely as she was raised by her no-nonsense and jaded mother. Her subtle winks and expressions are very apropos to her role and she interacts very well with Mr. Kringle. (Perhaps I like her because she looks like my daughter when she was little.) Regardless, I love the way this story is told and Mara makes it for me. Even though logically she was taught that Santa was not real, as a little girl she was still willing to believe. Take a little joy in believing! I hope you enjoy :)