A ho ho ho-hum Christmastime adventure with extra muscle, Red One isn’t exactly destined to be a holiday classic. That’s not to say there’s no fun to be had, though. The movie certainly has its moments, not to mention some imaginative takes on the ‘ol Santa mythos. We also get a decent turn from stars Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson and Chris Evans – the latter especially looking like he was having fun with the fantastical concept. I wish I could say the same for Kiernan Shipka and Lucy Liu however, as each looked lost in the silliness of it all. I could have certainly used more Nick Kroll though. He definitely understood the assignment. As for the action, there are admittedly a handful of exciting set pieces at play. Unfortunately, however, the film suffers from extremely shoddy special effects. It’s actually shockingly bad at times, looking like something made with the only technology available 20-plus years ago. The movie is also painfully overlong. The slightly over 2-hour runtime feels much, much longer. This thanks to several dragged-out sequences (the time in Krampus’ castle seemed to never end). It doesn’t help that it gets off to a slow start either, only becoming remotely interesting when Santa is taken. And, if you’re looking for genuine laughs, you might want to look elsewhere. Several “punchlines” are painfully cringeworthy (there were audible groans in my screening). The requisite feelgood themes around choosing to be good and the importance of family do hit their mark by the end, though. And hey, it’s always fun to see a new take on just how Santa does things. You’ll get catchy holiday tunes in the background and more than enough Christmas imagery to put you in the proper spirit. So, it might not be the shiniest present under the tree, but Red One certainly isn’t the cinematic version of a lump of coal either. It’s more of a decent stocking stuffer that will tide you over until the better stuff.