Santa with Muscles (1996)

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General		Extras
Category	Family	Menu Animation & Audio Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1996
Running Time	93:25 (Case: 97)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Don Murlowski
Studio Distributor	Hit Entertainment Beyond Home Entertainment	Starring	Hulk Hogan Don Stark Robin Curtis Kevin West Garrett Morris
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$19.95	Music	James Covell

    After the first few minutes of viewing Santa With Muscles, I got the impression that this movie would be too corny to enjoy. But, I then took a few steps back and realised that the target audience for Santa With Muscles is not in my age bracket, but rather it is aimed at pre-teen viewers. With that in mind, I am sure that they will enjoy this movie and would be excited to see such a title in their very own Christmas Stocking this year.

    Blake (Hulk Hogan) is a guy that has made a fortune selling his own brand of muscle building protein powders and shakes. He seeks enjoyment by playing commando with his staff and messing with local law enforcement officers. During one car chase, he tries to evade the law by seeking refuge in the local Shopping Mall and dresses in a Santa suit for disguise.

    While in hiding, he is accidentally hit on the head and wakes up not remembering who he is or where he is from. Meanwhile, the Elves who have lost the Shopping Malls-hired Santa stumble upon Blake and revive him. They convince Blake that he is a real Santa and take him to the Centre Mall to have his picture taken with the children and take their Christmas orders.

    While still suffering from amnesia, Santa gets right into the Christmas spirit and decides to help out the local orphanage by taking a trip over to see the children. He makes it just in time to see a group of thugs trying to scare the orphanage occupants out of their property, and Santa uses his strength to scare them off.

    The evil Ebner Frost (Ed Begley Jr.) has been harassing businesses in the neighbourhood for a while now and no one knows why, or what he is up to. The only thing that stands in his way is the local orphanage and he is determined to have the kids out of there by Christmas Eve.

    Can Santa save the children and the orphanage? Will he regain his memory and find out who he really is?

Video

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and appears to be Pan & Scan. It is not 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is quite clear and sharp. Shadow detail is also quite good up until around 54:44 where it deteriorates a little and the blacks become quite grainy.

    The colours were quite bright. Santa's suit in particular was a rich, vibrant red. There were no areas of this transfer that I found overly dull in colour.

    There were minimal MPEG artefacts to be seen. Aliasing is also very rare and mild when it does occur. Film artefacts are more common but were always small and not distracting at all.

    There are no subtitles present on this disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The only audio track available on this disc is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack with surround encoding.

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times and no hiss was noticed. Audio sync was not a problem at all with this transfer, and was completely spot on.

    The musical score by James Covell was a fitting choice for this style of movie. It was both jovial in tune and in areas had a distinct Christmas theme about it.

    The surround channels were used mostly for music and ambience. For a Dolby Digital 2.0 track, the surround use was quite well done. At 21:45 there was noticeable echo, but this was needed to make the scene convincing, and at 36:30 the music was well placed in the front soundstage and supported via the surrounds.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

Theatrical Trailer

    This disc is not available in Region 1.

    As I stated earlier, I found Santa With Muscles to be a little corny, but I'm sure that young children will enjoy it. There is some very low level violence, hence the title's PG rating. It does contain a good moral message about Christmas and about helping others that kids will pick up on.

    The video and audio quality were acceptable and contained no problems that the intended age bracket would even notice.

    There are no special features other than a Trailer.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall