If “Red One” is meant to mark the beginning of the filmic Christmas season, the holidays ahead look to be more dismal than anything.

| Apr 13, 2025

I guess in the end, it sort of works.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 20, 2025

Closer in kinship to an MCU extravaganza like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness than a Yuletide charmer like Miracle on 34th Street, this picture is busy busy busy as it sets up multiple storylines and creates new mythologies.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 11, 2025

While it certainly does have its share of issues holding it back, you could certainly do worse than a so-so piece of family entertainment like this.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 3, 2025

Together [Johnson and Evans] are going to discover the true spirit of Christmas, not because either of them feel it but because the movie will get a crappy CinemaScore rating without it.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jan 18, 2025

Every trick and plotline you’ve seen in superhero movies of the last 20 years get brought into Red One only less interesting, and worse to look at.

| Original Score: Catch It On Cable | Jan 16, 2025

This film felt as cold as a polar bears buttocks. Not much fun or merriment to be had. It's unfortunate because there is room for a mythology-driven film series, but this one just isn't it.

| Jan 2, 2025

Despite its lighthearted tone, even in serious moments, the film remains self-aware and doesn’t take itself too seriously, staying true to its primary objective—entertainment.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 27, 2024

A confounding project that is clearly trying to be for all audiences (it’s weirdly kiddie-oriented, but feels more aimed at adults) and is so bad it ends up being for none.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Dec 26, 2024

Naughty list? Nah. Red One belongs on an entirely different list.

| Dec 21, 2024

“Red One” is relatively watchable family fare, but as ephemeral and forgettable as a first dusting of snow.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Dec 21, 2024

With high-tech effects and light laughs, it delivers holiday fun, anchored by a sympathetic J.K. Simmons as Santa.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 20, 2024

Red One, directed by Jake Kasdan (Jumanji), fulfills its mission, embracing Christmas stereotypes only to deconstruct them with humor and spectacularity. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 6/10 | Dec 19, 2024

...inherently appealing subject matter that’s slowly-but-surely squandered by Kasdan...

| Original Score: 1/4 | Dec 19, 2024

The problem is that Red One seems to either hate Christmas or fundamentally misunderstand it as a concept.

| Dec 17, 2024

It’s a fun action buddy comedy adventure best viewed while wrapping gifts, filling out Christmas cards or baking cookies.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Dec 16, 2024

Neither Johnson nor Evans do Red One any favors. Both sleepwalk through the Red One but in strangely different ways.

| Dec 15, 2024

Red One offers big-budget visuals but lacks soul, with Chris Evans and Dwayne Johnson caught in a hollow holiday adventure.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Dec 13, 2024

An ugly, under-lit, joyless slog, devoid of any holiday charm or sense of fun.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Dec 13, 2024

The aggressively secular and gift-based systems of Red One are almost enough to prompt a moist-eyed holiday wish for more piously churchy seasonal entertainment.

| Original Score: C- | Dec 12, 2024