There’s a crisis afoot. The toy production at Santa’s Workshop is waaay behind this year.
The Chief Manager elf in charge, Crumble Starsnaps, hasn’t really noticed, since he’s all about dancing and singing and keeping the elf crew holiday-happy. But Cinnameg has certainly noticed. And since she’s just been promoted to assistant manager, she’s kinda panicked about it. I mean, they’re only days away from Christmas. And there are rumors of a big storm coming, too.
She wants to do her best. She wants to make this Christmas perfect. But Crumble just points out that, in the 129 years that he’s been in charge, they’ve never come up short on toys. It’s the North Pole, he tells her. Chill out.
Meanwhile, Cinnameg’s daughter, Marzipan, has her own issue she’s been working on. She’s noticed this odd, floating sparkle zipping around just outside Santa’s Village. And she’s determined to figure out what it is. While chasing the sparkle deeper and deeper into the Peppermint Forest and beyond, Marzipan runs upon a huge, Christmas-hating bear named Grizz.
As Marzipan gets to know the growling behemoth, she comes to understand that he’s not as bad as everyone thinks. In fact, he’s a good enormous bear with sharp teeth and claws. He may be on everyone’s naughty list, but he doesn’t deserve it.
So now, Marzipan has two goals to chase after: Find the sparkle and help Grizz.
Little does anyone realize that Marzipan’s quests and Cinnameg’s worries are about to intersect.
Marzipan and her mom both want to do what’s right. They’re willing to work as hard as it takes to help others.
For instance, when things really start falling apart and looking hopeless in the workshop, Crumble turns to Cinnameg and pins the Chief’s badge on her, stepping away from the problems. Later, after Cinnameg is crucial in solving the problems, she moves to give the badge back, but Crumble admits that she earned it, permanently.
Santa and Cinnameg also have a conversation about the workshop’s troubles. He tries to encourage her by talking about a certain old tradition that some cultures have about hiding a pickle in the Christmas tree, the finder earning another gift. He suggests then that the “pickles” we sometimes find ourselves in might turn out ultimately to be gifts if we look at them with the right perspective.
Grizz steps up to defend his new friend during some moments of danger. Then Marzipan, in turn, risks death to save him. She puts her life on the line and almost fails, but her faith in her friend, and her belief in the power of Christmas, saves the day. Marzipan also has a great idea that eventually solves the toy shortage problem.
When Marzipan and her dog, Lula, first stumble upon Grizz, Marzipan tells her pup, “Don’t move! We don’t want him to think we’re prey. At that, Lula kneels and prays. “Not that kind of pray,” Marzipan whispers. “Though it probably wouldn’t hurt.”
That’s the closest we get to an explicit reference to Christ or Christianity in this Christmas film. But we do see some other quasi-spiritual elements in play.
An elderly elf named Sage Evergreen reads stories to the elf children about some magical aspects of Christmas. And that includes a book about a reindeer made out of stardust named Glisten. This empowered deer was the cause of regular reindeer gaining the ability to fly. But then she disappeared. Marzipan wonders if Glisten is somehow connected to the sparkle she’s been seeing.
Sage Evergreen and Marzipan talk about the power of belief in something And Sage Evergreen advances the suggestion that “Maybe, sometimes, you have to believe in something before you can see it.” And later she adds, “Remember, just because you can’t see something, doesn’t mean it’s not there.” Sage then asks Marzipan if she sees anything in between the two of them. Marzipan replies that she doesn’t. But Sage Evergreen assures her that something is there: love. “You never know what can happen when you truly believe,” the older elf later insists.
It’s not exactly spiritual, but Cinnameg picks up a picture of her husband (who we assume is deceased) several times and talks to it, as if seeking wisdom or guidance.
[Spoiler Warning] The stardust reindeer Glisten does eventually reappear (as the movie’s title would suggest) and reports that Marzipan’s faith was what restored her. She in turn is able to inject everyone’s Christmas efforts, and Santa’s ride, with the needed magical power. There’s also some other magic in the mix, involving the blending of the “wishing star” and the “Star of Christmas.” When the two stars intersect, they create a magical vortex that Santa is able to use to jump around the world.
None.
There is what appears to be a fire in Santa’s Workshop at one point. But it turns out to be a malfunctioning “check twice” machine. Grizz comes into the workshop to help, But he tends to break things while doing so. He gets angry and growls fiercely on a couple occasions. When he does so at Santa’s Workshop, the tiny elves scream and run away. Some faint.
During her search for the sparkle, Marzipan encounters some snarling, sharp-toothed wolves that are set to attack and eat her. But Grizz fights them off. The battle never gets bloody, however. The three animals bash and batter each other around. The wolves are also battered by falling ice and snow. Eventually the wolves fall through a crumbling ice bridge, but we hear them howling off in the distance.
Marzipan and others also face a swirling snowstorm while in the woods. The raging storm actually turns into a tornado that sucks two characters into its corkscrewing center. (They survive.) Marzipan pulls a long, sharp thorn out of Grizz’s back.
No language issues.
But characters do get upset, excited or afraid and yell things out. A flummoxed reindeer says “dangflammit,” for instance. And others exclaim things such as: “Oh, my elf!” “Holy holly!” “Oh, crumpled wrapping paper!” and “Tinsel on a tree!”
None.
We don’t see Grizz do anything bad other than lose his temper once, but he does tell Marzipan that he’s on everyone’s naughty list. He insists that he’s good now. “Though, I do run with the wrong pack of wolves occasionally,” he notes. “A bear’s gotta have fun.”
Glisten and the Merry Mission is simple, tiny kid-focused fare that’s part save-Christmas tale and part Build-A-Bear ad. (Build-A-Bear Entertainment produced the movie.) It’s the sort of stuff we might have seen years ago as holiday filler on TV.
The cuteish plot is easy to follow. There’s no potty humor or other sticky content. And this pic packs an uncomplicated theme of believing in the power of Christmas in its cinematic stocking.
Now, granted, that “power” is a magical power, and the referenced version of Christmas is completely Santa’s Workshop secular. But, for faith-focused families, the film’s repeated encouragements to have faith and believe can be an easy springboard into talking with older tykes about the real faith and belief behind Christmas.
For families longing, however, for a great holiday movie night, I’ll just say, sorry. This isn’t a Christmas movie you’ll remember or cheer. Then again, it’s not one you’ll cringe over, either.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
