One thing to accept about Christmas movies is that if there is any little piece of tradition surrounding the Holidays, be it food or songs, there is likely a film about it.  There are also often many versions of the same idea.  This is certainly true for all the romantic comedies.  They may have different titles, but that is mainly window dressing for a predictable story with a Christmas backdrop.  This all fits with today’s review of Jack Frost (1998), which is loosely based on what I will loosely call a carol, “Frosty the Snowman.”  As we shall see in a moment, there are other aspects of this tale that hit the aspects of that song more squarely on its button nose.

Jack Frost (Michael Keaton) has no button nose for now, but is a harmonica player in a Colorado rock n’ roll band that is about to be signed to a record deal.  The opening scene features a talent scout at one of their concerts holding up his fancy cellular phone for his boss to hear.  Jack has a family, and they live in a picturesque mountain village called Medford.  Charlie Frost (Joseph Cross), Jack’s son, is getting out of school for Christmas break when we see him approach his playground snowball fight as if he is hitting the beaches of Normandy.  Across the yard stands Rory Buck (Taylor Handley), the school bully and Charlie’s older rival.  Marshalling his troops, Charlie manages to rescue his friends pinned down by Rory’s gang of accomplices.  Look, I am just giving you the tone of the scene.  He is excited to get home, though, because his dad is getting home that night from being on the road with his band.  He tries to keep his eyes open, but Jack has to get him up when he arrives.  Still, Charlie is awake enough to build a snowman with Jack, decorating it with dad’s hat and scarf.  The next day is Charlie’s big hockey game, but Jack has to rehearse in front of the record company.  Before Jack departs, he gives Charlie some pointers on his wrist shot that leave the kid only wanting more.  Unsurprisingly, Jack’s session goes longer, and the grief is compounded by Charlie’s team getting badly beat.  An apologetic Jack goes to his son upon getting home and suggests that they head for their cabin higher up in the mountains to spend Christmas together as a family.  As they are packing to leave with Christmas Day being around the corner, Jack gets a call saying that if the band wants the contract, they must play that night.  Jack’s wife, Gabby Frost (Kelly Preston), is understanding, but Charlie is palpably sad.  About halfway to their gig, Jack decides it is not worth ditching his family and turns around.  Unfortunately, the weather is bad, and he ends up driving off the road and dying.  A year passes and Charlie is moving sullenly through life.  Among other things, he has quit the hockey team.  Still, he is good to his mom, and insists she go out Christmas shopping while Charlie is watched by Mac MacArthur (Mark Addy), one of Jack’s bandmates.  Once Mac has fallen asleep in front of the television, Charlie goes outside to create a snowman, putting the same hat and scarf on it as he and his dad had done a year ago.  As he gets into bed, he pulls out the harmonica Jack had given him the previous Christmas and blows into it.  At that moment, some (though I hesitate to use this phrase despite it being apropos of the song) Christmas magic occurs and Jack comes to life as a snowman.  Once he realizes where he is, he begins calling to a startled Charlie, who naturally cannot believe there is an animated snow person talking to him.  Jack cannot understand the reaction until he sees his reflection in the window.  The next day, however, Jack manages to convince Charlie that it is actually his dad come back to life in snow form.  From this point on, Charlie can be seen taking a snowman with him wherever he goes, and talking to it at other times, all of which has people like Gabby worried.  Regardless, Charlie takes Jack to a special place just outside of town where the boy has been spending a lot of time thinking.  Naturally, this has a skating surface on which Jack can finally teach his son the special hockey shot that he had missed on before he died.  With this, and some motivational talk from Jack, Charlie decides to rejoin the hockey team.  Their upcoming game is on Christmas Eve and Jack promises to be in attendance.  The problem is that the area is experiencing a sudden heatwave that day, with temperatures climbing to almost seventy degrees.  Such is Jack’s determination to make up for his previous mistake that he braves, er . . . walking across the asphalt of a parking lot to see Charlie score the game winning goal.  Doing so takes a toll on Jack, who is in the process of melting.  Charlie is desperate to take his dad to cooler elevations.  His first idea is to try to get his mom to drive him and Jack, but she has trouble believing his wild story.  Instead, he finds a Christmas tree delivery truck that he somehow knows is going in the right direction.  It also conveniently takes them to the Frost mountain cabin where Jack tucks Charlie in before calling a frantic Gabby.  She is also incredulous about the voice on the other end, but comes anyway.  As they await Gabby’s arrival, Jack tells his son that he must depart, and that Charlie must let his father go.  It is emotional, but logical, too, since Jack will eventually melt.  When Gabby gets there, that earlier magic turns Jack into human form for a moment so he can say some parting words.

If you read the Wikipedia page for Jack Frost, you will see that George Clooney, Billy Bob Thorton, and John Travolta all passed on this movie.  Though I hate to be critical, now that I have seen it, I can hardly blame them.  It is a strange concept, and the schmaltziness does not help.  Some of the schmaltz did cheer my Christian heart, though, as when Rory is going to fight Charlie prior to putting Jack on the Christmas tree truck.  They find common ground on the fact that neither of them has a father, even if this involves the bully’s mind being changed by a talking snowman.  I must confess to rolling my eyes in this scene, but the Holy Spirit does work in mysterious ways.  What is a little weightier is the final moments when Jack is telling Charlie that the boy must move on with his life.  Charlie comes up with wild scenarios, such as them alternating hemispheres based on the weather.  Jack is firm that Charlie must let his father go, adding that as long as you let someone in your heart, you can never lose them.  These are good words to remember for the Faith life.  Being Christian in modern society is not easy, particularly with all the distractions that our current culture offers.  I have seen a few practicing Catholics who have raised their arms praising Jesus, only to fall away from the Faith because of circumstances like sin.  The thinking seems to be that once you do something supposedly so egregious, there is no coming back into a relationship with God.  What the words from the movie highlight is how difficult that is if you have Jesus in your heart.  I will not say it is impossible.  You can utterly reject God from your life, and sadly there are repercussions for doing so.  What it takes is not just inviting Jesus into your heart once and feeling like you have done everything you need to do.  That is an important step to be sure, but like any relationship, it takes nurturing, a renewal of that invitation on a daily basis.  This Christmas, especially if you have been having a hard time with your Faith, I pray that you think of the words of this movie (as odd as that might be to say) and welcome Jesus once again.

You are also welcome not to watch Jack Frost.  It is somewhat of an enigma that it was made, and there are some strange filming choices in it to boot.  Finally, this one did not age well as the special effects look pretty cheesy.  And have you not had enough cheese this Holiday season?