No wonder Bad Santa's sleighing us

Yet up he pops this year necking booze in Bad Santa, in a reindeer-drawn Volkswagen for Christmas With the Kranks, and ho-ho-ho-ing in Surviving Christmas. This month’s animated feature Polar Express also unintentionally underscores the uneasy side of Mr Claus. The main gimmick of Express is its cutting-edge computer animation, where authentically human movements and gestures were achieved by sticking little indicators all over the actors’ bodies and using these tracking devices as guides for creating animated replicas.

No wonder our best Santa in years also happens to be the worst in the world. In Bad Santa, Billy Bob Thornton’s part-time department store Santa is a seasonal safecracker and a foul-mouthed, cantankerous drunk all year round. Forget milk and a biscuit, this Santa is powered by whiskey and hookers. And for those of us jaded by too many over-packaged seasonal movie offerings, he’s a Christmas gift that just keeps on giving.

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