So at this time of year, it’s no surprise that many gravitate towards a Christmas film for entertainment. And there have been some classics over the years, which you’ll probably find on your EPG right now, along with a few stinkers alongside them.

Coming up with new entries can’t be easy, but obviously worth the risk if they’re lucky enough to be shown every year.

There’s one way of minimising that risk – or so you would think - and that’s by having one of the biggest stars on the planet star in one, as is the case here with Dwayne “don’t call me the Rock no more” Johnson getting his festive on.

It’s coming up to 24th December which is a pretty big night for a certain someone. Up in his high tech complex in the North Pole is Santa (J.K. Simmons), preparing himself for the biggest night of the year for him and his reindeer, as they distribute toys to every child on the planet.

It’s not just them however, as he has a huge operation behind him that runs all year round, including his head of security Callum Drift (Johnson); he’s responsible for Santa’s safety, so he takes it very personally when somehow his security is breached and Santa is kidnapped.

They get Intel that a Jack O’Malley (Evans), a hacker, is somehow involved, so Drift pays him a visit. He confesses to not knowing much about it, and certainly wasn’t aware that Santa was the target, so Drift recruits him, against his wishes, to help undo the bad work he has done, and not only find Santa, but also save Christmas. But who would do such a despicable thing in the first place?

This is an Amazon original, but had a limited run theatrically before hitting the site, which now looking back in hindsight, may not have been the best idea. Although limited, critics were far from kind, and audiences didn’t greet it with the same kind of enthusiasm that was once lavished on a Johnson release.

But now it’s available on Amazon Prime, is it worth a watch?

It’s a film that probably tries to be too much to all people. It has Santa in it, so it’s a Christmas film. But then it adds to the existing lore with all kinds of nonsense, such as a witch and other mythical creatures. This makes it a disagreeable hybrid, giving off a Men in Black X Harry Potter vibe, that just doesn’t work.

And because Chris Evans is Johnson’s sidekick, it also wants to be a buddy movie. The result is a bloated, convoluted mess.

It also doesn’t particularly feel that Christmassy for the majority of it, again coming across as more of dungeons and dragons caper with snow.

Director Jake Kasdan has experience with the fantasy genre, having directed two entries in the re-booted Jumanji franchise, and he handles that aspect well, but the end result is that it was possibly a better premise on paper than what eventually made it onto the screen.

The fact is that it’s simply destined not to be a Christmas classic, and although not necessarily the Christmas turkey it was made out to be, it’s more like socks from one of your least favourite cousins; they may well be festive red and have little bells on them, but they are just socks and not really what you wanted.