Jack Black’s new Christmas movie, Dear Santa, might not get the seal of approval from die-hard Christians, but it’s still quite the entertaining Christmas movie. This is a film in which a young dyslexic boy accidentally sends a letter to Satan instead of Santa, and lo and behold, an old man with a beard in a red outfit appears in front of him. Liam’s an 11-year-old, and his family is still suffering in the aftermath of a heartbreaking traumatic incident that took place a year ago. Even at 11, he still writes to Santa because it’s something that makes his mum happy. Christmas is her favorite time of the year, and all he wants is for her to be happy again. Dear Santa begins with Liam’s parents in distress all the time. They don’t get along at all, are constantly fighting, and sleep in separate beds (or one on the couch). Liam then lies that his friend Gibby has cancer, because his dad won’t believe he could’ve made a friend at a new school in 3 months and that they play football together. They’re clearly not football people, but Liam’s a people-pleasing adolescent who might end up a pathological liar thanks to his old-fashioned dad.
Spoiler Alert
How Did Liam Summon Satan?
Liam likes Emma, the popular girl in school; this movie is playing off of all the tropes, and he decides to ask her to the Post Malone concert. Gibby doesn’t understand what he likes about her, but they both like cats, okay! Anyway, Liam botches it because Emma’s boyfriend is the bully jock equivalent of 2024 and shows up just in time to embarrass Liam into leaving. Later he tries to tell Gibby about what happened a year ago, but Gibby interrupts him because he can’t handle tough news. During the day, Liam sent his letter to Santa, except he wrote Satan on the cover, so it actually went to the down under. No, not Australia; you know which one. The next thing you know, there’s a strange man in Liam’s room at night, and he’s wearing all red. This man has horns, but somehow Liam doesn’t notice them and actually believes he’s Santa when he transforms his outfit into a typical Santa suit. “Santa” tells Liam that he can grant him 3 wishes. Liam doesn’t have a wish ready at first, but the strange man asks him about a “girl” and ends up pulling out the first wish for him: “I wish Emma would give me a chance.”
Liam’s wish is granted immediately, and Emma’s now obsessed with him. Though he’s terrified, he’s forced by Santa to ask Emma out, and he asks her to the Post Malone concert. This time she says yes, but she also worries it’s a prank. The next thing you know, Santa’s also added some VIP passes as freebies to the wish. Later, Liam tells Gibby everything and even shows him “Santa,” but Gibby’s quick to realize that this man isn’t St. Nicholas. This is when Liam also realizes that this has to be the devil’s doing. He tries to speak to Satan, but this is when Satan tells him that he’s going to steal his soul once he makes his third wish. Liam practices self-control with utmost patience, and so he tells the old man that he’s not going to make the other two wishes. As we all know, temptation’s in Satan’s wheelhouse, and so that same night, he saves Liam from a child psychologist who was called over because Liam said Santa came to his room. Gosh, can’t a kid just be different?
The next thing you know, Gibby’s at the door claiming Liam’s agreed to go to chemo with him, and Satan’s pretending to be his dad (wow). Somehow this works, and now Liam is Post Malone’s biggest inspiration. Also, Liam’s got moves as we see him bust them out on the big stage, after which Emma gives him a kiss on the cheek. But Gibby isn’t having fun at all. Instead, he decides to leave the concert by himself. This is when Liam realizes what his second wish has to be. Out of the kindness of his heart, Liam decides to get Satan to fix Gibby’s teeth (the reason why he’s got no friends outside of Liam). This isn’t a selfless act, though. Technically he wants to go on a double date, and the only way that’s possible is if Gibby’s teeth are fixed. This, of course, works in Liam’s favor, though he doesn’t tell Gibby that it’s his doing. At home, Liam tells his parents that he was wrong about Santa and that it was actually Satan who came to see him and granted him wishes. Later, Liam, Emma, and Gibby meet up at the town Christmas carnival, but their adventure is cut short when Liam’s parents kidnap him from the carnival to take him to the psychiatric hospital.
Does Satan Take Liam’s Soul?
This is when everything starts to spiral. At the hospital, Liam is set free after his parents find a video of him doing killer moves at the Post Malone concert. Maybe they should’ve just believed their son. Sure, there might not be a Satan, but he’s actually a superstar. But Liam’s life’s already been ruined, so he starts to act up and push away everyone who cares for him. He also decides he’ll have Satan grant his last wish because he can’t stand his parents quarreling anymore. He wishes they’d be in love forever, but it seems they’ve already found common ground and forgiven each other. This is important because Liam thinks Satan’s taken his soul, and he decides to “have some fun,” i.e., rage in front of everyone and stand up for himself. I suppose Liam’s kind-hearted nature always pushed other people to take advantage of him, and so he never had real friends. But, that’s not true, of course; the second he behaves badly, he loses Emma. At night he tells Gibby about how he had a brother who ended up dying.
Back in hell, we learn that the man we’ve been thinking is Satan is actually a demigorgon or a demidemon. I suppose in a way there are many parallels between Liam and the demidemon. They’re both “demi,” i.e., Liam has learning differences, and the demidemon is, well, a semi at best. The demon did try to deceive Liam, but Liam was “incorruptible.” Satan himself then tells the cheeky devil that he can’t have him keep going because not every demidemon can be a demon. We also learn that his horns aren’t real. The man then visits Liam again and tells him that he never took Liam’s soul. Liam can’t believe it because he stood up to all those people thinking his soul was gone, but the demidemon tells him that that was all him.
In Dear Santa’s ending, Liam gets his final wish, which is to have his brother back. The demon showed up to his room one last time to tell him that he was no longer welcome in hell and that Liam’s last wish was null and void because his parents were back in love by themselves. The demidemon also tells Liam that he’s going to choose a different path now, and he’s very excited for him. In the final few minutes of the film, the scene’s almost dreamlike after the demidemon tells Liam that it’s Christmas and he can wish for anything. The scene has Liam rushing to his brother, who is alive again, and then a pony appears out of nowhere for Liam’s dad. Liam’s dad may not have had a good day, but having got his childhood wish, maybe he’ll become less pretentious and have a really good day with the one son who’s left behind. Additionally, the tree topper looks different now, and only Liam can recognize it. The new cherub is none other than the demidemon himself. His new path, I suppose.
Is Liam’s Brother Resurrected?
Now there are a couple of theories here: either Liam’s dreamed up this whole scenario now and Dear Santa ends with Gibby telling him that he told Emma about his dead brother in order for us to realize the consequences of Liam and the demidemon’s doing. The second option, which is dark and unsettling, is that Liam never came out of the psychiatric ward, and he’s been thinking up all these scenarios in his head to feel better. I guess you could say Dear Santa has a happy ending because Liam got everything he wished for, but it wouldn’t make sense that a cherub would be able to bring back a dead boy. But if you can go by the words of Jack Black himself, you can wish for anything because it’s Christmas. I don’t believe a dead brother can be brought back under any circumstances, so if in fact, it is real, then he and the pony are essentially ticking time bombs that will end up bursting at some point, which would ruin everybody’s lives, including the demidemon/cherub’s. This could lead to interference from the higher-ups, i.e. Satan and God himself. At the end of the day, I suppose, Dear Santa is about the importance of having faith in the people close to us, and the value of trust.
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