630. When Santa Fell To Earth (Als der Weihnachtsmann vom Himmel fiel )

Only people of a certain age will remember when most of our school summer holiday TV programmes were dubbed.
Remember White Horses, Belle and Sebastian and Robinson Crusoe and how their words didn't quite match their lips.
And do you remember how the drama of some scenes was doused by the lack of emotion in the characters' voices.
Of course, since those days dubbing into English is a rarity. In fact, our cinema audiences tend to be perfectly  happy with subtitles.
But in many other countries, for example Germany and Spain, dubbing is still as widely used now as it was here then.
Thus, to the German makers of When Santa Fell To Earth there would have seemed nothing strange about voices which sound as mechanical as those on a satnav.
Actually, I was torn by Oliver Dieckmann's movie. It is, after all, the sort of fantasy Christmas story which should leave younger children wide-eyed.
Will their enjoyment be affected by the dub? I honestly don't know. After all, that is the sort of thing which is only picked up by adults (perhaps our mums and dads thought White Horses was a load of tosh).
Anyway, the story here is that the last Santa is a fresh faced looking fella (Alexander Scheer) who has crashed to earth in a old-fashioned caravan, pulled by the last reindeer.
Apparently, he had been pursued by a Santa pretender who is wanting to take the title for himself and change the world into a darker place.
Anyway, when our hero lands, he is befriended by a little boy and girl (Noah Kraus and Mercedes Jadea Diaz).
With Santa being pursued by giant clockwork soldiers, as well as the villain's team, it is up to the children to try to save him.
Can they do it? What do you think?
I think if Santa Fell To Earth didn't have the distraction of the dubbing, it would be perfectly fine Christmas fodder with a few decent chase scenes and the festive message written large.
However, I couldn't help finding words and lips not matching a bit bizarre and it certainly did detract from my enjoyment.
Laughs: three
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 5/10