another childhood memory rap and murder . why why why must the industry rely on reinvent classic instead of create worthy original material . this live action retelling of the classic 70 rankin bass stop motion holiday hit the year without a santa claus ( itself base upon a book by phyllis mcginley ) make the same mistake a the live action how the grinch stole christmas movie star jim carrey do in 2000. you just can not take a classic and drag it out to feature length . the updated year without a santa claus do not need to be two hour long and nor do it need to be update at all . even the act talent of john goodman and delta burke and carol kane couldn not save this train wreck of an idea . fan of the original you will be disappoint . it drag and it change the story and it have chris kattan and too many topical reference that will make it look dated and quite stupid in year to come and whereas the original have remain timeless . stick with the original .