It’s smack dab in the middle of summer and the nefarious Count Dracula sees the off-season as the perfect time to take over everyone’s favorite holiday, Christmas, but he’s going to have to get past the rest of Santa’s friends in order to accomplish this. With Frankenstein by his side, he’s certain he can accomplish anything. He even has the viewer believing at times that he can pull this off. He and “Frankie” make sinister plans to convince everyone that Christmas is going to be canceled because Santa has retired, so Christmas is looking to hire a new figurehead, himself. Dracula is, of course, lying.
Santa plays a superhero of sorts in this film where he spends most of his time flying around in outer space with his sidekick Elfie. They’ve decided to take off on vacation to Hawaii, but they discover that the Count is trying to hijack Christmas, so they set out to solve this problem and look for Dracula. They encounter everyone from Patrick the Leprechaun to Cupid, who is surprisingly naked in this film from behind, and the penguins, who are on their own journey, offer some comic relief throughout. Santa and Elfie even encounter a human family when they go to Earth, who has a genius son that has mastered time travel and is friends with Santa’s brother, and Santa and Elfie learn that they and others are celebrating Christmas in July. This encounter raises questions about believing in Christmas, and Elfie explains that Christmas is a mood, a feeling, a spirit.
There are positive messages throughout, especially when Santa finally encounters Dracula face-to-face, and reminds him of how even he enjoyed Christmas when he was young. This film offers wonderful opportunities to talk about how it’s never too late to change, and the importance of holding onto what matters.