By Chris Alexis

I admit, I’ve been looking forward to Fred Claus for a long time. The trailers look hilarious, and I’ve always loved Vince Vaughn. It looked like Wedding Crashers meets The Santa Clause – a raunchy, fun Christmas movie.

Well, it wasn’t quite exactly that.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie. But I thought it was “cute.” Turns out this is much more of a family movie. This movie is better as something to take the kids to as opposed for the Old School and Knocked Up crowd.

Fred Claus tells the story of Santa’s brother. Fed up from his parents constantly comparing him to his saintly brother, Fred goes in a very different direction. He’s selfish, a smooth talker, and going nowhere in life. Basically, he’s a cliché. When Fred runs into some legal and money troubles, he reluctantly turns to his brother, St. Nick, to hire him for the Christmas season to earn money he desperately needs.

The cast works pretty well in this movie. Vince Vaughn plays his typical shallow character from other films, but it works for the movie. Paul Giamatti plays Santa brilliantly, part sweet, warm soul, part stressed out workaholic. Miranda Richardson plays Mrs. Claus and Rachel Weisz as Wanda, Fred’s girlfriend.

The rest of the supporting cast, including Kathy Bates as mother to the two brothers, and the always-gorgeous Elizabeth Banks as Charlene, work pretty well.

And finally, there’s Kevin Spacey as Clyde, antagonist to Santa. He’s an “efficiency expert” who works for some unnamed, unexplained board that has the power to shut down Santa if his operation isn’t going as smoothly as it should. He’s already set to fire the Easter Bunny. I’ve always loved Kevin Spacey, and he plays the villain well here, and does what he can with a silly role.

I would recommend this movie. It’s heartwarming and funny, yet filled with clichés. But still, a solid kid’s movie the whole family should enjoy.