Saving Santa

Saving Santa (2013) is an animated family comedy you can watch online on iFILM. Bernard is a lowly stable elf who mucks out the reindeer pens at the North Pole, and nobody expects much of him. Yet he turns out to be the one elf who can rescue Santa and Christmas itself.

A villain is plotting to seize the workshop and steal the sleigh's biggest secret — the TimeGlobe, a device that lets its user jump through time. When the raid succeeds, clumsy Bernard hurls himself into the past to replay the day and halt the invading army before the holiday vanishes for good. Martin Freeman voices Bernard, backed by Tim Curry, Ashley Tisdale and Joan Collins.

Directors Leon Joosen and Aaron Seelman put together a good-natured festive tale built around a time loop — bright, simple and refreshingly free of sugary excess. It runs short and moves briskly, which makes it an easy holiday pick to watch with younger kids. Stream Saving Santa (2013) online on iFILM.