Turbo Man
Schwarzenegger plays Howard Langston, a workaholic salesman that is more interested in his work than his wife Liz, played by Rita Wilson, and son Jamie. It’s not that he doesn’t love them, but he cannot refuse work, and he always misses out on his son’s karate tests and other activities. Meanwhile, neighbor Ted Maltin, played by the late Phil Hartman, is always around to help out, but his intentions are less than pure as we find out later in the film. Howard doesn’t care for Ted anyway, but those are the least of his worries.
The point of the film is finding the sold out Turbo Man doll. Jamie, like all kids his age, is enthralled with Turbo Man, the superhero on TV and in comic books. The big toy that year is a Turbo Man doll, and it was Howard’s responsibility, as given to him by his wife several months ago, to find a Turbo Man doll for Christmas. Well, it’s Christmas Eve and Howard completely forgot to get said doll. He visits every store in a wide radius to find it, all the while battling Myron Larabee, played by Sinbad, who is in the same boat (as are many other parents). Predictably, everything works out great for everyone, and there isn’t anything wrong with that, but along the way it’s a pretty cheesy ride. It’s hard not to be embarrassed during a lot of scenes, especially for Arnold who just seems so out of character. The final sequence when he is flying around on a jetpack with his son, who doesn’t even recognize him behind his see-through mask, adds to it, but it’s when moments later his own wife doesn’t even recognize him (or his accent) that you realize it’s all just too much to take.
Full of predictability and uninteresting comedy, Jingle All the Way pales in comparison to other holiday classics like Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, and A Christmas Story.
Jingling On Blu-ray
The “Family Fun Edition” Blu-ray is a 50GB dual layer disc presenting the film in widescreen and in 5.1 DTS-HD audio. For the most part, this release looks and sounds fine, but there are some issues with the video during several scenes where the contrast doesn’t seem very crisp and/or areas of the scene look a bit blocky.
This Blu-ray release contains several extra features, but these aren’t enough to save the release:
-Theatrical and Extended Director’s Cut version – It may surprise some of you that there was actually a director’s cut, but it’s true. This version is just three minutes longer than theatrical release.
-Making of A Hero – A fifteen and a half minute feature in SD in which the cast and crew talk about inspirations for the movie (mostly comics) and other ‘making of’ anecdotes. Lots of production and behind the scenes footage is included.
-Super Kids – An eight minute SD feature that includes a bunch of random kids talking about superheroes; quite useless.
-Turbo Man: Behind the Mask – Another eight minute feature in SD. This is a fake documentary about Turbo Man with the actor who played Turbo Man, Daniel Riordan, in character.
With that, let’s wrap up…