Santa’s Little Helper, the latest WWE Studios (Yes, the wrestling company also does movies) holiday film is a by the numbers family flick that stars 2.5 WWE Superstars (I’ll explain the .5 later) in The Miz & Paige. Santa’s Little Helper is not one of the worst Christmas cash-ins nor the worst WWE Studios films, but while it highlights one Superstar, it does downplay another and thank god for it.
Santa’s Little Helper is the story of Dax “The Ax”, (played by WWE Superstar Mike “The Miz” Mizanin) a fast talking soulless business man who is the personification of every movie villain you’ve seen in these types of films. He’s got the fast car, expensive house, hot girlfriend, high paying job and has just put the paperwork through to close down the local Youth Center just before Christmas. Suddenly, his world is turned upside down by his boss, who fires Dax thus Dax loses the fast car, hot girlfriend, and house is about to be foreclosed… All in the days before Christmas. Queue the Full house style “Awwww” here.
However, in the North Pole, Santa (played by Eric Keenleyside) just lost his Ho Ho Ho… A position that is like a second in command, not his actual laugh or anything. So Santa sends his personal trainer, an elf by the name of Billie (played by AnnaLynne McCord) to the “normie world between the poles” to find the next Ho Ho Ho because of her genetic defect of having round human ears rather than pointed elf ears. This upsets the daughter of the former Ho Ho Ho, an entitled little elf called Eleanor (WWE Diva Paige).
All this leads into Billie being sent to find Dax and test him for “the five sugar plum virtues” all while he is at the lowest point of his life. From here Santa’s Little Helper goes by the numbers; slowly Dax opens his heart and becomes a better person, Billie falls for Dax, and Eleanor reappears in the third act to try and stop Dax from becoming the new Ho Ho Ho… Kinda. Santa’s Little Helper ends with a lot of the usual Christmas movie stuff, but the twist is so annoyingly pointless that it makes you wonder why the movie happened at all.
The performances in Santa’s Little Helper range from extremely good to absolutely phoned in. Eric Keenleyside as Santa is an example of a great Santa for this direct to DVD movie. You get the whole jolly and kind thing from him from the get go, but you also sense that he’s always one step ahead of everyone else, which works extremely well in the ending of the film. Another fine performance is from the under used Mrs. Claus, played by Kathryn Kirkpatrick. Again, very kind and somewhat obsessed with cookies, but actually gets one of the few genuine laughs in Santa’s Little Helper.
AnnaLynne McCord as Billie is a good character; you get to see her open up alongside The Miz as she pushes him through all the weird trials she has to set up. The weird thing for her was the fact that her character is meant to have a genetic defect of rounded ears, which makes her hide her ears through the entire film, making this often talked about character trait a somewhat missed moment for her character development.
The Miz is perfect for this type of movie. For some reason I haven’t enjoyed him in his Marine movies, but in Santa’s Little Helper and his last WWE Studios Christmas film: Christmas Bounty; I’ve found him to really hit his place in the movie world. His attitude going from ruthless corporate shark to open hearted human being progresses so naturally that you can’t help but enjoy his character. I was a bit worried that for a family movie Santa’s Little Helper had The Miz shirtless in way too many scenes and did have a few more adult moments in it that made me uncomfortable. But all in all, The Miz has found his place in the movie world; he’s that everyman that people can relate to. Maybe if the WWE doesn’t work out he can make some money in more of these Direct to DVD features. Also be on the lookout for his wife, former WWE Diva Maryse, during the biker bar scene where she smacks The Miz in the chops. (There’s the .5)
Finally we have Paige… Oh god where to begin? I’m going to be honest; she phoned this one in big time. You know how you watch her on RAW and cringe whenever she does a promo? Well that’s exactly the performance you get here. I know her character is meant to sound like an entitled little brat, but that’s not what it comes across as. To be honest I don’t know how it comes across but I know it’s not good acting that’s for sure. It almost seems like she showed up direct from RAW, did her scenes in her travel clothes, and left with an extra paycheck. This is even worse because she comes in as the new villain in the third act and challenges Dax for the role of Ho Ho Ho in an obstacle course and wins by cheating, which gets her disqualified by Santa anyway, which for an elf who only pre-challenge was quoting rules TO SANTA, she should know better. But hey, Paige in this movie is just nothing more than a glorified cameo anyway.
In the end Santa’s Little Helper is nothing more than the standard cheap early holiday season film we get every year. It’s watchable if you don’t have anything else going on any other channel, but not exactly something you’d be rushing to get in time for Christmas Day or even pre-Christmas viewing. The Miz is the stand out in this film because he loves to act, as the guy was an actor long before he was a wrestler, and it shows. Sure, he’s no Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but he’s not bad for the Direct to DVD market. Paige on the other hand… Stay away from acting girl, you’re no good.
Santa’s Little Helper is available now in digital and DVD formats
