I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Charming and brutal

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This movie is best all time Christmas movie! Whether its the 1994 version with Richard Attenborough, Mara Wilson, Elizabeth Perkins and Dylan McDermott or the 1947 version with Maureen O'Hara, Natalie Wood and William Frawley, I can watch either one every year with the same emotional pull every time! "I believe!" Each version changes the miracle (the 1947 uses the US Post Office's innumerable letters to Santa Claus and the 1994 uses the US One Dollar bill's "In God We Trust"), but they both have the same effect. It's too bad Macy's didn't lend it's name to this excellent makeover, especially being the the parade is known as the "Macy's Day Parade," but instead giving way to the fictitious S.F Cole store in the make over.

I was first introduced to the 1947 classic of the same name , when I was just eight years old. I knew nothing about Natalie wood , , New YORK or MACY's department store. Watching the original, was nothing short of a MAGICAL experience!! I feel in love with New York, Ed Gwynn , JOHN PAYNE , MAUREEN OHARA , and of course , Natalie Wood. , and MACY's !! It became a tradition , each year that followed, that MIRACLE ON 34th street , would be required viewing as son as the American thanksgiving was underway!! I've lost count of how many times I have watched this movie ( I went out and bought the DVD because for some insane reason , 3 years ago , the movie was not being shown on any channel ?!? )All that being said, I have to admit , I was a bit disappointed with the 1994 version. Yes Mara Wilson was cute as a button , and spot on as the the skeptical little girl. But I found this version lacked one key factor - MACYS !!! In this version , Macy's isn't even mentioned. For some reason, after the producers when all out to find the perfect cast , they couldn't get the real Macy's to agree to let miracle, use macys !!! This , I beili really hurt the film . What they should have done was worked harder to get the Macy's name, or not release it at all . I think not getting permission, was a game changer / deal breaker .Trust me., forget this version , and watch the original, and experience the magic!! And whatever you do stay FAR AWAY from the so called television remake that was released in the 70's that starred Sebastian Cabot , and JANE Alexander and David Hartman ewwwwww.

Dorey Walker (Elizabeth Perkins) is the producer of the Christmas parade for Cole's department store. Kris Kringle (Richard Attenborough) is shocked at the drunken Santa in the parade. Dorey quickly puts Kris Kringle in to replace the drunk. Her daughter Susan (Mara Wilson) doesn't believe in Santa because her mother explained it all to her. Bryan Bedford (Dylan McDermott) is Dorey's boyfriend. Dorey hires Kris Kringle as the store's Santa who becomes popular for recommending shoppers to other stores. Susan is taken with the new Santa and starts to believe that he's the real deal. There is a rival store Shopper's Express which tries to sabotage Kris Kringle by getting him arrested.There is the great Richard Attenborough and a cute little girl. There is nothing wrong with the acting. The script is a little dated. Some of the simpler elements seem charming in the original but seem naive in the modern version. This one has very little to offer other than Attenborough. Also for some reason, they got rid of the post office plot line. The mailbags piled into the courtroom is probably the most compelling scene in the original.

While I believe a great film can be updated to fit more recent times, the 1994 remake of the 1947 classic Miracle on 34th Street is an example of how good intentions can go astray.I thought Richard Attenborough did a fine job in the lead role. The spirit of the film was truly much like the original version. Where they went wrong was getting too heavily into the serious plots—the scenes between Mrs. Walker and the attorney were too long and too detailed, without being humorous at all.{Spoiler alert} One scene near the end was troubling to me. They appeared in a Catholic church after midnight Mass and the priest was happy to marry them even though they obviously had not agreed to get married beforehand. This isn't Las Vegas. Any normal minister on seeing that the couple had not really planned on getting married, but were just then considering it, would have wanted to wait until they were sure before performing a ceremony.What really hurt was that most of the scenes from the original that made it such a fun film were eliminated in the remake. The comical interaction between Kris and Susan as he tried to let her learn to pretend, and, most significantly, the great courtroom scene where all the huge bags of mail were carried in, convincing the judge that the postal service considers Kris to be Santa were not in the remake.In fact, the "big courtroom scene" had the judge all ready with his verdict, then, on seeing one familiar phrase on the back of a dollar bill, suddenly rendering a totally different verdict on a rather flimsy bit of logic. In the original, the judge's dilemma was saved by thousands of pieces of unexpected evidence. In the remake, the judge changed his mind over seeing something that he could easily have thought about on his own—the concept of trusting someone or something you can't see is not unique to the phrase on the our money.I will agree that the 1994 Kris had more reason to strike his antagonist in the remake—but the scenes of him being tormented were not fun to watch. When he struck at the man, he swung his cane quite hard—hard enough to have done some real damage, which is something I'd like to think a real St. Nicholas would simply not do. In the original, he was simply frustrated at the annoying Macy's employee and gave a light tap that clearly would not have seriously hurt anyone.Even the opening scene in the remake removed the humor of the original. I remember well how I was impressed the first time I saw the original, where Kris is walking down the street and happens to see reindeer and a Santa figure in a display window, and he knocks on the door and proceeds to instruct the man that he has the reindeer misarranged. The 1994 version simply has Kris standing at a stop light and when the man beside him says that the little boy next to him thinks Kris is Santa Claus, he leans over and whispers, "I am Santa Claus." Ho-ho-dull.