New Christmas specials come out every year, and sometimes these are just filler, but other times they’re strongly pushed by whatever work, app, or streaming service that they belong too. Alien X-Mas is an example of the latter, a special I’ve been curious about since I first saw it on the Netflix home page, because, well, just look at it! That’s an odd poster up there and I knew that I had to check this out to see just what I had been scrolling by all this time. After finally watching it I can confirm that Alien X-Mas is not what I was expecting, but let’s back up and start at the beginning.

Told storybook style by an unknown narrator, Alien X-Mas starts by explaining the tragic history of the alien species called the Klept, a once colorful people who turned gray because of their greed and love of theft. The Klept have a kleptocracy, but an extremely literal one, the Klepts best at thievery and cunning are the political leaders, which is completely unlike governments here on Earth. Anyway, the smallest Klept, X, is sent on a mission to Earth in order to break the planet’s gravity so that all the glorious stuff on Earth can be stolen after it floats away into space. I have to admit, it is a brilliant plan, I’d certainly never see that one coming! After X arrives at the North Pole though, his lust for ornaments and trinkets takes over and he finds himself mistaken for a doll by an elf inventor. Given as a gift, X experiences elf culture, and prepares to learn about a lifestyle with shockingly little theft.

Now when it comes to science fiction Christmas movies, I tend to expect the worst, but when one of the most recognizable titles in that category is Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, I think that’s well deserved. Imagine my surprise when I watched this special and came out quite liking it! Alien X-Mas manages to avoid a lot of the pitfalls that science fiction Christmas movies can fall into; there’re no scenes of people endlessly explaining Christmas traditions, no one is trying to steal Santa because they don’t have one of their own, nothing like that. X tends not to speak that much, so most of the humor is either visual gags or physical comedy, both of which are executed pretty well. Wisely, the emotional core of the story is about an elf family that just wants to have Christmas together despite the dad having to work fixing Santa’s sleigh, and that is something pretty easy for a lot of kids and adults to relate to, a lot of parents do miss out on stuff because they have to work.

The pacing is good, the animation is simple but colorful and fun, and there are plenty of wacky sequences, especially when the North Pole gets invaded. It’s not a masterpiece and it is a bit derivative of How The Grinch Stole Christmas, but what’s the harm in making some knew holiday kitsch every now and then? There are certainly a lot worse things you could be watching at Christmastime.