Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Convicted con artist Ed Asner escapes from prison dressed as Santa Claus. He hides out in the basement of an apartment building where two kids live who believe he's the real Santa. He uses them to help recover some money he hid before he went to prison. As he spends time with the kids and their friends, he softens and slowly starts to understand the true meaning of Christmas.Ed Asner is gruff but likable. That pretty much sums up his career. The kids are good, particularly the adorable little blonde girl. Rene Auberjonois is the obligatory Scrooge character. Fred Gwynne's the cop on the case. He's always fun. Susan Tyrrell has one great scene but I wish she was in it more. I'm not entirely sure why Asner's character didn't immediately shave and find a change of clothes to help evade capture but I guess we wouldn't have had a movie then. And how about that prison? They have the dumbest guards imaginable. Dude just literally walked up to the door and asked to be let out. Still, it's a good TV movie with nice humor and sentimental touches. Corny at times but appropriately so. Gets better as it goes along so stick with it.

*Spoilers* First of all, this movie is...not good. It's the kind of movie that's only good if you enjoy watching bad movies to make fun of them. It absolutely does not make sense, even in movie terms. It is corny at best, and ridiculously stupid at worst.The movie follows a convict who escapes from prison by beating up a man from the Salvation Army and stealing his Santa suit. (Just puts you in the spirit doesn't it?) After we meet our lovable felon Horace, we meet Billy, John, and Trudy. Billy and Trudy are siblings. Billy is an extremely optimistic and gullible young boy, and Trudy is something like a clone of Cindy Brady that went horribly wrong. Their parents are recycled nice parents who love their kids but are stuck in poverty. John on the other hand, is a complete and utter jerk. John's father is an even bigger jerk who is a caricature of a modern day Scrooge, and is just short of emotionally abusive to his son. Not only that, but he plans on foreclosing on Billy's family and all the other tenants by the end of the year. Then of course there is John's (or is it Billy's?) dog Spider, a scruffy stray that didn't make the cut for the Annie movie.Anyway, after Horace escapes he becomes a... squatter I suppose, in the building the kids live in. Billy and Trudy find him and believe he is the real Santa, which he reinforces rather unconvincingly. Then he has the kids help him break into some special Santa throne that has a sack of money inside. No...really. Along with that, "Santa" bonds with John, relating to his cold and unfeeling relationship with his father. After Horace finally gets the money he ditches the kids and... has a bizarre Dickens-esque moment on a train he's escaping on. This makes him go to give John's dad an equally Dickens-like moment, and Christmas is saved! This movie is bad. The premise is strange, the acting is mediocre at best, and the characters are bland. The end of this movie created more questions in my mind than answered them. It was so confusing and made little sense. Along with that, Billy's "innocence" is so exaggerated that he comes off as stupid. It might have been more believable if he were under age seven, but the boy is at least ten years old, maybe even twelve. There were some scenes that were decent, even "good" acting, but the characters were underdeveloped, so it had little emotional effect. It's almost like they tried to put in too many story lines, and never finished any of them well enough. On top of that, the "Christmas star" is completely irrelevant to the plot! It only comes into play during the first few minutes of the movie, and then the last few minutes. Take those out and this would be the exact same, dumb movie. If anything the movie should have been called "The Christmas Convict." This movie is stupid. Watch one of the other few dozen worthwhile Christmas films instead.

Disney is releasing this Yuletide classic Sept. 7, 2004. One of the truly great Christmas films. Ed Asner, Fred Gwynne, Rene Auberjenois, and writer/ director Alan Shapiro and his talented crew make this Dickens-esque family perennial a must-see. If you like "A Christmas Carol", "Miracle on 34th St.", you will also love "The Christmas Star". Originally made for Disney's Sunday Night Movie, it has run for years on X- Mas but, unfortunately, was never released on video -- until now. Do yourself a favor and get a copy!

Probably one of the most underrated Christmas movies out there. Ed Asner was perfectly cast as a grumpy prisoner, the storyline was a very touching one, and the acting was all-around excellent. Would recommend this to anyone. Only wish I could find a tape or DVD of it somewhere ...