Cute young leads and a generous splash of Home Alone-style mischief make this unsophisticated festive comedy more fun than it should be. In an exaggerated case of childhood misconception, eight-year-old Justin Carver (Big Daddy poppets Dylan and Cole Sprouse) wages war against Santa to protect his parents' marriage, after witnessing his mum (Connie Sellecca) apparently smooching with the old guy. The family-friendly laughs increase along with the boy's confusion, prompting an escalation of his slapstick pranks that fortunately distracts from the film's flimsy plotting and weak adult performances. A zesty soundtrack adds to the general sense of juvenile boisterousness, but it's the convincing and endearing reactions of the Sprouse twins that ultimately keep events watchable.

A boy witnesses his mother kissing what he believes to be is the real Santa Clause and retaliates with mischief.