Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Noelle’ on Disney+, A Charming Christmas Comedy Starring Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader

Noelle is one of two new straight-to-streaming feature films now available to on Disney+, Disney’s much-anticipated streaming service. (The other is a live-action Lady and the Tramp remake.) Noelle, an original Christmas movie directed by Miss Congeniality‘s Marc Lawrence, starring Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader as the Kringle siblings, is funny and charming if a bit messy. 

NOELLE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Meet the Kringles, your average, everyday Christmas-loving family whose father just happens to be Santa Claus (Bryan Brendle). Under the North Pole’s patriarchal government, Santa’s son Nick is expected to inherit the family dynasty when he’s older, while his more-ambitious daughter, Noelle, is relegated to the role of card-making.

Flash-forward an unspecified number of years and Santa is dead. (Any grieving period is quickly glossed over in a breezy voice-over narration.) Now an adult, Nick (Bill Hader) is reluctantly gearing up to become the 23rd Santa Claus. Though Noelle (Anna Kendrick) and their mother (Julie Hagerty) do their best to support and encourage him, it’s not going very well. Nick can’t seem to get the hang of any of the skills that are supposed to come naturally to Santa, which include intrinsically knowing which kids are naughty or nice, intrinsically knowing every language in the world, and intrinsically knowing what kids want for Christmas. (Hint: It’s probably an iPad.) When Nick admits to Noelle that this whole thing is stressing him out, Noelle suggests he get away for the weekend to clear his head.

But Nick doesn’t just run away for the weekend, he runs away for good. Noelle is blamed for ruining Christmas while her cousin in the tech department, Gabriel (a very toned-down Billy Eichner), gets promoted, implements an online delivery service, and gets tyrannical about the naughty-or-nice list. Noelle and her nanny, Elf Polly (a great, grumpy Shirley MacLaine) hijack the sleigh and head to Phoenix, Arizona, where they hire a detective (The OA‘s Kingsley Ben-Adir) to track down Nick.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: It’s impossible not to think of Will Ferrell in the best modern Christmas classic of our era, Elf, especially when Kendrick is wandering around Phoenix in a winter hat and mittens, befuddled by slushie machines and sunscreen. I’m not mad about the similarities; like Ferrell, Kendrick nails the wide-eyed naiveté, and she’s a joy to watch. It’s also reminiscent of another family Christmas movie that—much to the chagrin of my parents—I loved as a child for its magical, fantasy world-building: The Santa Clause starring Tim Allen. Maybe Noelle‘s dedication to Santa-lore will have a similar effect on the children of the present-day.

Performance Worth Watching: Look, I realize it’s easy to give an MVP award to the lead actor in a movie with the most screen-time, but I really do have to shout out Kendrick for her laugh-out-loud performance as Noelle. Only Kendrick’s flawless delivery could surprise a laugh out of me by saying “Ho ho ho” instead of “Ha ha ha”—one of the oldest Christmas movie jokes in the book. Time and time again she elevates the script with her charm, proving that her moment as a star is far from over.

Memorable Dialogue: It’s a tie between the many, many Christmas puns—including “Silent Night” and “Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” from the Elder Elves council trying to calm the crowd—and Kendrick declaring a Santa soap bottle dispenser “kind of offensive.” Then, when Kendrick is summing up the shaky moral of the movie—more on that below—she says, “It’s not just about the presents we get, but the presents we give—the presence of love and understanding. And also iPads.”

Single Best Shot: Noelle clicking her skates into existence is one of those clever visual detail that will have skate-manufacturers scrambling to make those boots a reality.

Sex and Skin: Literally none at all. There is a teensy, tiny hint of romance between Kendrick and Detective Jake Hapman that never escalates beyond a sexy sunscreen face smear.

Our Take: I had high expectations for Noelle. I mean, Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader? A family-friendly Christmas comedy that’s written and directed by the writer of Miss Congeniality? That sounds like a movie that is extremely up my alley. For the most part, it was, thanks largely to Kendrick and Hader. Both are excellent comedic actors at the top of their game, and though the humor is all very tame and Disney-ified, I laughed quite a bit. MacLaine commands every second of her too-short screen time, and Ben-Adir—who also plays a detective on Netflix’s The OA—is likable as the brusque realist. Eichner, in what I assume was an odd directing choice, gives an uncharacteristically understated performance as the film’s de facto villain.

The script itself didn’t quite live up to my expectations. The premise is fun, if predictable, and gets partial credit for being fresh. A magical Christmas creature as a fish-out-of-water isn’t a new concept, but Santa’s daughter fighting for her place in a male-dominated industry is. Personally, I think Lawrence would have done much better to lean into the latter, but instead, the gender politics are touched on so lightly it feels like he (or a Disney executive) was afraid of being labeled “feminist.” Perhaps because of this fear, the moral that Noelle opts for instead is muddled. In the end, it’s not about presents, but also, it is about presents. Especially iPads—a much-repeated joke that pretty accurately sums up Noelle‘s sterile, pro-consumerism take on Christmas. Also, not for nothing, but the obligatory cute CGI character for toy-making does not look good. What happened to that famous Disney visual effects budget?

But credit to Lawrence for his attention to detail to the rules of his world, which gives Noelle an irresistible magical quality—the kind that appeals to our inner child that still believes in Santa. Add the reliable magic of Kendrick and Hader to that, and you’ve got yourself an enchanting Christmas movie, despite its flaws.

Our Call: STREAM IT. If Noelle had come out in theaters—as originally intended—rather than on Disney+, would I have given it a harsher a review? I have to be honest: Maybe. But hey, you already signed up for Disney+ for The Mandalorian, so why not? I assume that’s Disney’s angle, and I think it’s working. There’s something about just staying at home and hitting play on your couch that makes you more forgiving of mediocrity. Especially if it has Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader charming up the screen.

Watch Noelle on Disney+