October 19, 2024 (BFI London Film Festival)
December 4, 2024 (Netflix)
That Christmas is a 2024 animated Christmas fantasy comedy film directed by Simon Otto (in his directorial debut) and written by Richard Curtis and Peter Souter. Produced by Locksmith Animation, it follows entwined storylines based on short stories from That Christmas and Other Stories by Curtis and illustrator Rebecca Cobb. The voice cast features Brian Cox, Fiona Shaw, Jodie Whittaker and Bill Nighy.
That Christmas premiered at the BFI London Film Festival on October 19, 2024, and was released on Netflix on December 4. The film received a mixed response from critics.
Storyline
In the seaside Suffolk town of Wellington-on-Sea, the townsfolk are preparing to celebrate Christmas, with the activities being organized by Bill, the lighthouse keeper. The story follows three groups: Danny Williams, a shy new boy in town who tries to adjust to his parents' divorce, Sam and Charlie Beccles, identical twin sisters who are respectively anxious and mischievous, and Bernadette McNutt, a spirited local rebel who wants to change things up for the holiday. At the school's Christmas play, Bernadette puts on a more liberal spin, which not many of the parents enjoy. During this time, Danny has to help out his mother while she is at work, while having a crush on Sam. Meanwhile, Sam worries that Charlie will not get any presents because of her mischief.
The next morning, the school closes due to snowing, but Danny is forced to catch up on his studies by his teacher, Miss Trapper, after his mother fails to notice the alert. During a ten-minute recess, Miss Trapper teaches Danny how to properly build a snowman and Danny notices that Miss Trapper is miserable on the way home. On Christmas Eve, Bernadette stays with her younger sister Evie and their friends in a barn near their houses and prepare their annual Christmas traditions while their parents attend a wedding out of town. When the parents leave the reception, they are forced to take the long way home thanks to a snowstorm, but they go off the road and slide down a slope from off a bridge. They inform their children that they will be home in the morning and have them stay together for the night. Danny is called by his father who informs him he is unable to come due to the blizzard.
As Danny sleeps with his mother who comforts him, Santa Claus arrives at Wellington with his talking reindeer Dasher and, upon learning about the situations in Danny's life, leaves him behind with his stocking full and a quad bike in front of his house. After learning of Bernadette and her friends' current events, Santa leaves them with peculiar gifts. Noting that Sam has been nice while Charlie has been naughty, Santa reluctantly leaves Charlie with the presents. Charlie awakes and is overjoyed to find presents but sadly sees Sam's empty stocking and realizes they are meant for her sister. When Charlie moves everything to Sam's stocking, Santa gets a reading that Charlie is in fact nice and returns to Wellington. On Christmas Day, Charlie wakes up to find her stocking is full, and finds a button saying "officially nice" inside, but decides to keep it away from her family. Sam later discovers that all of Charlie's mischief was to help her, even developing a plan to get her and Danny together. After discovering their gifts, Bernadette leads them in having the Christmas they want, while Evie follows a flock of turkeys during a game of hide and seek. An overjoyed Danny becomes disheartened when he learns that his mother has to work as Bill's mother is sick. Danny, seeing Miss Trapper alone, offers to have lunch with her, but she declines and convinces him to see things from his mother's perspective. Meanwhile, the parents struggle to get up from the slope, so they call Miss Trapper, who enlists Danny's help to convince Farmer Yirrell to get the parents to safety simply by hauling them back to their houses, where they are ultimately greeted by their children and helps Danny make an igloo for his mother. Danny and his mother reconcile and offer Miss Trapper a place at their table, but she declines and instead looks through a book of pictures from the early 1980s of Miss Trapper with Jamie, her late husband who died in the Falklands War in 1982.
The parents notice that Evie is missing and they search for her, getting the town involved in their search. Miss Trapper enlists Danny to take her to the McNutt house where she takes up the command. As Sam and Charlie run into Danny and join in on his quad bike, the trio enlists Bill to help find Evie. Fortunately, Bill flashes the light on a set of footprints, and the group follow them to a row of beach huts, where they find Evie sheltering with several turkeys. After Bernadette and Evie's parents arrive, Bernadette apologizes to her mother for losing Evie, but she forgives her. Upon learning that Danny thought of using the lighthouse, Bernadette hails him a hero and Danny asks out Sam. On Boxing Day, Bill goes to the beach to swim in the cold ocean with half the town arriving to enjoy themselves.
Movie Trailer
Sound Effects Used
- Sound Ideas, DOG - PUPPY, YELP, WHINE & BARK, ANIMAL (Used for a fox.)