***/**** Image B Sound B+ Extras B+
starring Julie Andrews, Sofia Vassilieva, Kenneth Welsh, Debra Monk
screenplay by Elizabeth Chandler, based on the book written by Kay Thompson & illustrated by Hilary Knight
directed by Kevin Lima
by Travis Mackenzie Hoover Last year around this time, I was expressing my surprise (and perhaps embarrassment) at having actually enjoyed Disney's first Eloise TV movie, Eloise at the Plaza. For once, the Mouse House had perpetrated something that was cleverly conceived, skilfully shot, and lacking in the mushy sentiment that oozes out of many a Disney enterprise. But the jaded cynic in me was wary of the sequel, Eloise at Christmastime, which, if only to salvage my integrity, I hoped would be a cheap quickie riding on the success of the original. No such luck: Eloise at Christmastime is every bit the effervescent piece of fluff that its predecessor is. Once again director Kevin Lima has sized up the limitations of the material and obscured them with a fleet-footed visual wit, creating one of the few Christmas specials you can watch without wincing.
Our heroine is, of course, Eloise (Sofia Vassilieva), the perennial six-year-old with a home at the Plaza Hotel. As advertised, Christmas is the centre of attention this go-round, and busybody Eloise has her work cut out for her: Rachel (Sarah Topham), the daughter of Plaza owner Mr. Peabody (Victor A. Young), is on the verge of marrying a rich socialite (Rick Roberts)–much to the chagrin of Bill (Gavin Creel), the Plaza waiter who loves Rachel more than her wealthy paramour does. But maybe that paramour isn't so wealthy: a little snooping from Eloise reveals that he's a con artist after his fiancé's money, though not even her long-suffering Nanny (Julie Andrews) will believe her, meaning that she has to use all of her manipulative wiles to torpedo the marriage and thrust the bride into the waiting arms of Bill. Any bets on if she succeeds?
What impresses most about the Eloise saga is its sense of proportion. Any other outfit would have cranked up the maudlin histrionics and drowned you in spirit-of-Christmas goo, but though there's a fair amount of holiday cheer thrown around, it's tempered by an upper-crust New York sensibility that insists on things being done with style. Thus screenwriter Elizabeth Chandler weaves a tight basket full of comic incident, criss-crossing the various Plaza employees and residents into subplots that bolster the main thread; likewise, Lima orchestrates the elements with some broad but gentle visual quirks that suggest a NEW YORKER cartoon by way of Frank Tashlin. It's not what goes down, but how it goes down, and the Lima/Chandler axis ensures that nothing flies off the handle: it's the pleasure of things happening just so, making this holiday entry a cut above the pack.
To be fair, we're not talking about a masterpiece, and there are the obvious Disneyfied limitations which force Eloise at Christmastime to be more innocuous than necessary. Nobody's expecting seditious behaviour from a Kay Thompson adaptation, but the filmmakers appear to be under orders to keep everything less vigorous than it might be, lest they rattle tender parental sensibilities with a more exuberant six-year-old. But under these restrictions, the creative team brings serious craft to what could probably have been treated like a mindless bread job without any real backlash. Mention should also be made of Vassilieva's precocious presence, which lies somewhere outside of the usual inhuman child star shenanigans: she's just as aberrantly perfect, though perfect for something other than mugging for the camera. Like the rest of the show, she's got personality–more than I can say for others of her (and its) televised ilk.
Alas, Disney's DVD rendering of Eloise at Christmastime leaves something to be desired. Cropping the picture's shot-for-HD aspect ratio, the fullscreen image is a bit too oversaturated besides, with reds especially leaping out to upstage the generally muted palette; fine detail is a bit soft. While the film claims on the packaging to boast Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, you wouldn't know it from the audio's heavy reliance on the front soundstage. That said, there's nothing technically wrong with the audio on offer.
Extras begin with "Absolutely Kay Thompson" (11 mins.), a brief history of Eloise's criminal mastermind: Eloise illustrator Hilary Knight and friends Rex Reed and Mart Crowley recount the career of singer, musician, MGM musical director, and all-around bon vivant Thompson in a piece that will surprise those who know her simply from her books. Less interesting is the obligatory "Making of Eloise at Christmastime" (18 mins.), wherein the main players do the mutual-admiration shuffle and give the broadest explanations of their roles in the production. "See the Books" offers a two-page gallery of the Eloise book covers, while "Sneak Peeks" houses trailers for The Princess Diaries 2, Mary Poppins 40th anniversary edition, The Young Black Stallion, Where the Red Fern Grows, "That's So Raven", Kim Possible: The Villain Files, and "Hope and Faith". Rounding out the package: a punch-out Eloise Christmas ornament, plus a selection of Disney coupons and promotions.
87 minutes; NR; 1.33:1; English DD 5.1, French DD 5.1; English SDH, Spanish subtitles; DVD-9; Region One; Disney
