There's a novel idea at the center of World's First Christmas, but the film's unfortunately takes it through the least interesting route available. There's a rich opportunity here to unpack what the holiday season really means to people, or to poke fun at how this occasion for togetherness and celebration has been co-opted by corporations trying to make a buck. But the film never gets there, running through a series of occasionally funny scenarios only to end up becoming an unconvincing advertisement for Christmas as a consumer holiday. The main gag here is that everyone has been left miserable by the absence of Christmas, which is an idea that falls apart immediately once you start asking even the simplest questions about it.

The fact that this story is centered on a blended Brazilian family is something that doesn't seem to be entirely necessary—which is exactly why it leaves such a good impression, despite the rest of the film's weaker moments. There's something of a dramatic through line here about each side of the family learning to cooperate with the other, but for the most part this is just a portrait of a modern family existing as they are, going through everyday misunderstandings together. This family alone would've made good subjects for a film, and it's nice to see this sort of representation in a fantasy film, just because.