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It’s the season to be jolly, indeed. The holiday season is about to start, and Christmas is just next month. People from around the world are gearing up to spend some time at home watching holiday movies and television shows that keep their spirits up until the beginning of the new year. There will be a barrage of holiday films and television shows starting to make their way onto television and Ott streaming platforms, and most of them intend to spread the cheer that comes with the holiday spirit.

To keep up with the excitement, Disney+ released The Santa Clauses, a six-episode series based on the The Santa Clause film series originally conceived by Leo Benvenuti and Steve Rudnick in 1994. The new series was created by Jack Burditt and released on the streaming platform in 2022, right at the start of the holiday season. Season two of this beloved show,...

ROME -- The fledgling RomaCinemaFest will become the permanent home to one of Italy's best-acknowledged screenwriting prizes, plaudit organizers said Monday.

The second annual festival will lend the backdrop to this year's Solinas Awards for screenwriting, which will be dished out Oct. 24 during the Rome event.

Founded in 1985, the Solinas Awards -- named after Oscar-nominated Italian screenwriter Franco Solinas, who died in 1982 -- have been presented in several locations around Italy throughout their 22-year history. But organizers said they have found a home for it at the RomaCinemaFest.

The Rome festival runs Oct. 18-27.

The Solinas Awards are presented each year to honor excellence in Italian screenwriting. The two main prizes are the Story Award for original screenwriting and the Leo Benvenuti prize for comedy writing.

In the grand scheme of things, Kicking & Screaming never will be remembered for its dazzling originality (Four words: The Bad News Bears) or its sparkling wit. It doesn't even really have any memorable sequences that eventually would find their way onto an Oscar clip reel.

But when it comes to making good on its promise -- namely Will Ferrell as a driven soccer dad in a suitable-for-all-ages comedy -- the picture delivers the entirely pleasant if somewhat recycled goods.

Laughs-wise, it lacks the raucous edge of an Old School or Anchorman or the retro charm of an Elf, but there's still plenty of Will-power to fuel this likable underdog trifle. It certainly is more enjoyable than a lot of what passes for family entertainment these days.

While the Universal release shows a considerable amount of moxie by going up against the Force, parents still won't have to drag their kids kicking and screaming to this no-brainer example of surefire counter-programming.

Ferrell plays Phil Weston, a good-natured vitamin salesman with a supportive wife (Kate Walsh) and a well-behaved 10-year-old son (Dylan McLaughlin).

He also happens to have Buck, a fiercely competitive, highly critical father (a perfectly cast Robert Duvall in full-tilt The Great Santini mode) with a young second wife and a 10-year-old of his own (Josh Hutcherson).

When Buck, who coaches the top-ranked Gladiators little league soccer team, sends Phil's kid down to the bottom-ranked Tigers, Phil steps in to whip the hapless players into championship contenders with a little help from his dad's next-door neighbor, Mike Ditka -- yes, that Mike Ditka -- as well as a couple of young Italian prodigies who have been recruited from their uncle's deli.

In the process of rising to the occasion, Phil turns into a caffeine-injected soccer-dad monster but manages to see the error of his bullying ways before the final goal is scored.

It's the kind of tried-and-true story -- which initially was kicked around by Ferrell and his manager, Jimmy Miller, before being handed off to Leo Benvenuti and Steve Rudnick (the team behind The Santa Clause movies) -- that really depends on its cast and a director with solid comic timing to get the job done.

Having established himself with American Wedding and How High, Jesse Dylan displays the requisite light touch, though in the process of going for that loose, improvisational feel, occasionally the shtick gets stuck in a repetitive rut.

Even though this one's aimed at kids, there's still enough of Ferrell's amiably loopy personality to satisfy his fans. It's great to see Duvall taking on a rare comedy, and he looks like he's having the time of his life, while famed Chicago Bears coach Ditka, in his first major feature outing, proves to be a natural, more than holding his own against Ferrell and Duvall.

Production values (though set in Chicago, the movie is shot extensively in Southern California) are bright and sunny thanks to reliable assists from cinematographer Lloyd Ahern ("Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story") and the versatile Mark Isham, who mixes it up with an appropriately playful score.

Now if only they had managed to accomplish all of the above without seeing the need to include the Black Eyed Peas' ubiquitous Let's Get It Started, they might really have started something.

Kicking & Screaming

Universal

Universal Pictures presents a Mosaic Media Group production

Credits:

Director: Jesse Dylan

Screenwriters: Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick

Producer: Jimmy Miller

Executive producers: Charles Roven, Judd Apatow, Daniel Lupi

Director of photography: Lloyd Ahern

Production designer: Clayton R. Hartley

Editors: Stuart Pappe, Peter Teschner

Costume designer: Pamela Withers Chilton

Music: Mark Isham. Cast: Phil Weston: Will Ferrell

Buck Weston: Robert Duvall

Barbara Weston: Kate Walsh

Himself: Mike Ditka

Sam Weston: Dylan McLaughlin

Bucky Weston: Josh Hutcherson

Janice Weston: Musetta Vander

MPAA rating PG

Running time -- 87 minutes...