Preteen girl looking at a cell phone with her parents

Personalized picks at your fingertips

Get the mobile app on iOS and Android

Parents' Guide to

Father Christmas Is Back

By Kat Halstead, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

British Christmas comedy has some language, sexual content.

Movie PG-13 2021 105 minutes
Father Christmas Is Back Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 11+

Based on 1 parent review

age 11+

Disappointed

With such a good cast one would expect brilliance. It's badly written and badly acted. Expected liz hurly to be awful as per, but the rest???!!

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (1 ):

A starry cast adds a little extra sparkle to what is otherwise fairly standard, though enjoyable, Christmas fare. Father Christmas Is Back has all the elements: a Nativity, carols in the pub, a local fair, as well as the arrival of unexpected guests, family tensions, and disasters that threaten to cancel Christmas. The actors -- both veteran and lesser known -- ham it up for full farce, but there are times when performances don't quite gel.

Quentin is reliably warm and funny as the family matriarch, and Grammer surprisingly brings more warmth than comedy as the misunderstood patriarch -- a particularly touching scene with his granddaughter adding much needed fuzzy feelings. Hurley does a solid job of poking fun at herself, playing a version of her media personality, and John Cleese channels years of experience as the slightly off-kilter country gent. While Cox goes full caricature in the central role, proving a little hit and miss within the tone of the movie as a whole. Stereotypes abound generally within the family and the Christmas setting, lacking the originality to temper the feeling that we've been here before, and many times at that. But it's an easy watch that will do little to offend and might just get you into the Christmas spirit.

Movie Details

Inclusion information powered by

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate