By Geno McGahee
I’ve never seen a Dennis the Menace movie and haven’t seen a comic either. So, this was new territory and I assumed it would be bad and probably a HOME ALONE knockoff, but it wasn’t either. The film was far better than I thought it would be.
Dennis (Maxwell Perry Cotton) is a six-year-old that can’t help but to get into trouble, despite his good intentions. The person that gets hit the most by the antics of Dennis is poor Mr. Wilson (Robert Wagner) and he is very weary of the little guy. He tries to avoid any interaction with Dennis and notes prior issues with him and the hell he’s gone through, but his wife is a given person and brings him to a charity bake that features a stage show. This ends with Mr. Wilson being pummeled with pies thanks to Dennis.
An immediate highlight of this film was Jack Noseworthy as David, a father that demands perfection from his son, Jack (Isaac Durnford), or he will be a “loser”. David is obnoxious and hilarious and he really isn’t in this enough, but when he is, he shines. There is animosity between David and Dennis’s father, Henry (George Newbern), stemming from elementary school and that has passed on to their children with Jack bullying Dennis.
In a secret Santa, Dennis gets Mr. Wilson as his person and is now desperate to get him the perfect gift and it doesn’t go well. There are some funny moments here. Going by a list, Dennis starts trying to make Mr. Wilson happy. He brings him holiday shopping, which ends with Wilson having an injured arm and neck. The next idea was to get him a Christmas tree, and it doesn’t take long for the police to arrest Wilson for stealing it. Dennis then gets together with his friends and put up lights on the Wilson house, only to set it on fire. Wagner really plays this role well. He is responsible for a lot of the humor in this. One of the funniest moments is when Dennis makes cookies with every ingredient you can think of…most of them dangerous or disgusting, and Wilson says “one won’t hurt.” The next scene, he’s immediately carted away by an ambulance. It was really funny.
As this is happening, Santa (Godfrey), comes down to save the day. Usually I fucking hate this shit. I don’t like supernatural Santa stuff and I know that’s odd considering I’m such a fan of Christmas movies. Santa has his place, but whenever I watch a Christmas movie and Santa or an elf shows up, I usually lose interest. In this film, it works and actually makes it better.
After Wilson goes off on Dennis and even tells him that there is no Santa, which is a huge dick move, Santa shows up to pay him a visit. We get a Scrooge sort of tale here with Santa bringing Wilson to different points in his life and what his words to Dennis means long term. This part of the film was incredibly effective and, once again, Wagner made it all work.
I expected nothing from A DENNIS THE MENACE CHRISTMAS and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. This could have been a shitty film, but the cast is very solid and they were all really into the production. The film starts slowly but once it kicks in, it kicks in and it’s very enjoyable and really funny at times. I recommend it.
