It seems like every year or so we’re given a new “Christmas” movie in theaters, whether it’s a family dealing with stress during Chrismastime, or a full on Santa Claus movie trying to add to the lore and concepts that have come before. In recent years we’ve seen a few violent takes on Santa and Christmas movies, and the results have been very hit and miss. RED ONE delivers a rather fun and exciting Christmas adventure that also manages to be a safe and entertaining family film, which at the moment is quite a refreshing surprise.

The story follows Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans), who we’re first introduced to as a little boy who clearly doesn’t respect the mythology of Santa Claus or Christmas, and is very obviously a “naughty list kid” who grows up to be a bad man, earning his money by hacking and stealing info for folks even worse than himself. We then see Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons) and his faithful bodyguard Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson), carrying out their duties in a way that feels similar to how the President of the United States would, and we eventually see the North Pole, which in this movie is a high tech city filled with magical workers and stealthily hidden from the rest of the world with an invisibility shield. Mrs. Claus (Bonnie Hunt, who is sadly underused here) trusts Callum to protect her man, but is sad to know Callum plans on retiring as he just doesn’t see the magic and appreciation in people the way he used to. When an evil witch named Gryla (Kiernan Shipka) kidnaps Santa to use his energy to exact revenge on all the bad people of the world, Callum tracks down the person who gave her the coordinates to find his boss… and that person is Jack. Now, with the assistance of a secret organization led by Zoe (Lucy Liu), Jack and Callum must race against time to stop Gryla’s evil plan, even teaming up with Santa’s not-so-nice brother Krampus (Kristofer Hivju) to give themselves an edge. And in the process of all this, Jack is also trying to fix his relationship with his son, who is quickly becoming a lot like him.

While there is nothing shocking or surprising about most of the events in RED ONE, this is more about the journey than the final destination, and as a movie it’s quite a fun ride. Evans and Johnson make for an amusing mismatched pair, and the film never takes itself too seriously, really leaning in on the humor and silliness of it all. For example, Santa here is a weightlifting superhero type, someone it’s easy to see everyone looking up to, even Callum, as big and imposing as he is. But it also injects a touch of realism by acknowledging how the world we live in today is more jaded and vapid, not really respecting the magic and charm of Christmas. When Santa tells Callum he needs to look past the annoyances to see why what they do is important, you get what he means, while simultaneously understanding Callum’s disenchantment with it all. It’s not a big surprise that at some point Callum will see things differently, just as it’s not surprising that Jack will eventually see the error of his ways and become a better person. So while the story never delivers much in the way of unexpected beats, it still manages to have a good time and allow us to sit back and enjoy it.

Dwayne Johnson is great as the “straight man” here in this sometimes fantastical world, getting to use his imposing stature to full effect, and at times show his sweet side when it’s called for. Chris Evans is the wisecracking comic relief, which we’ve seen him do before, but he’s the perfect put out buddy for this adventure, and somewhat inspired casting considering the material. J.K. Simmons is a great Santa, missing for the middle of the film, but making the most of his early and later scenes. Lucy Liu is also used sparingly, but it’s great seeing her back on the big screen, and she gets some nice butt-kicking moments in the latter portion of the film. Kiernan Shipka does her best to chew scenery as the nefarious Gryla, and she’s pretty good, but it’s Kristofer Hivju who steals the show as the party boy Krampus, still violent and evil but just trying to relax and have a good time these days. As I mentioned earlier, I really wish Bonnie Hunt was given more to do as I love her in movies, but an amusing brief role from Nick Kroll softens the blow a bit.

The film is directed by Jake Kasdan, who previously worked with Johnson on the JUMANJI movies, and he does some nice world building here to where these characters and environments could easily be expanded on and revisited should this movie become a hit. The film almost has a HARRY POTTER element to it, in that it feels like a small part of a larger story. I was actually quite impressed with the end result, and found myself grinning quite a bit as the events unfolded. It reminded me a lot of family adventure films of the 1980s, a sort of throwback to more wholesome days of cinema. I’m not sure if RED ONE is destined to become a holiday classic, but it’s a solid effort that succeeds more than it fails, and one of the more entertaining movies of the year. Don’t go in expecting anything revolutionary, just have a good time with it and take the family along for the ride.

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