History YMMV / JingleAllTheWay

** A running gag in the film is how Booster is TheScrappy in the ''Turbo-Man'' universe, at least as far as the fans are concerned. Jake Lloyd, who plays Jamie, would eventually be regarded as TheScrappy himself, to an even worse degree, after appearing as Anakin Skywalker in ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/ThePhantomMenace''.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Even though Arnold was the focus, just imagine the whole movie on Sinbad's POV? Then you have the movie about a down-on-his-luck father trying to buy a Turbo-Man doll as his way to atone for not being a good father to his son. It would not only make the movie more interesting but put it into BlackComedy territory.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Admit it, some of Myron's views on the Christmas season and some of the points he makes on how the marketing divisions of toy companies stir up these major "crazes" for a new toy during the Christmas season for their own profit are rather valid.
** Subverted by how he attributes him living a miserable life while his childhood neighbor went on to become a billionaire CEO is due to him getting the fad toy for Christmas during his childhood while Myron didn't.

** A bomb turns out to be in one package going through the mail. With today's terrorist-fearing society, that scene can come off as awkward.

** Rita Wilson clearly shoving her head down after telling Howard how hard the toy will be to find, so the camera can zoom over her.

* IdiotPlot: The entire film happens because Howard forgot to buy Jamie the doll months ago like he was supposed to. Liz was the one who told him to do so, and then never thought to bring it up to him again until shortly before Christmas.

* IdiotPlot: The entire film happens because Howard forgot to buy Jaime the doll months ago and Liz, after telling him to do so, never thought to bring it up again until shortly before Christmas.

** Todd's son Johnny counts as one, since he's InnocentlyInsensitive and his father is spoiling him just to hit on other women.

* {{Narm}}: Most of the son's lines, due to Jake Lloyd's wooden acting.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Even though Arnold was the focus, just imagine the whole movie on Sinbad's POV? Then you have the movie about a down-on-his-luck father trying to buy a Turbo Man doll as his way to atone for not being a good father to his son. It would not only make the movie more interesting but put it into BlackComedy territory.
* AssPull: The Turboman costume in the parade just so happening to have a fully functional jetpack (something not even '''NASA''' can perfect), which Howard uses to turn the tides in the climax.

** The heroic Turboman theme is actually pretty cool when played live during the parade.

** A minor one for Myron. Okay, he can give his kid the Turbo Man doll. Hurrah. The downside is that he might face prison time and will still be considered an absentee father. Oops.
* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Buying your kids toys they want, even if you have to go through hell, is the best way to show you love them.
** [[spoiler:Consider the fact that, after the end credits, Howard's wife was expecting him to get her something as well. Subtly hypocritical, much?]]
** No way does the film criticize or provide meaningful commentary on how Howard and Myron are only going through hell to get the toy to make up for not being there for their kids the rest of the year.
** How about Johnny's dialogue to Jamie that Ted was a deadbeat dad, too, until the divorce and suggesting that if Jaime's parents get divorced, it could make Howard a better father. It doesn't help that the film seems to want to agree with Johnny.

** A running gag in the film is how Booster is TheScrappy in the ''Turbo Man'' universe, at least as far as the fans are concerned. Jake Lloyd, who plays Jamie, would eventually be regarded as TheScrappy himself, to an even worse degree, after appearing as Anakin Skywalker in ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/ThePhantomMenace''.

** One of the kids in the Turboman commercial is Spencer Klein, otherwise known as [[WesternAnimation/HeyArnold Arnold Shortman]].

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The clichéd WhenYouComingHomeDad trope aside, Jaime acts like a spoiled brat to Howard at every turn, rebuffs his attempts to make amends, and only shows love for him when Howard plays to his materialism and promises him the Turboman doll.
* UnintentionallySympathetic: Myron. The man is an incredible asshole not adverse to faking having a bomb to get the Turbo Man doll (an ''[[TimeMarchesOn even bigger]]'' no-no nowadays) and chasing after a kid to steal the doll from him (which gets him arrested), but his life has been complete hell and considering we are following another man willing to go through all kinds of (equally borderline and ''actually'' illegal) mayhem to make his son happy...

%%* UnintentionallySympathetic: Myron. See JerkassWoobie for further details.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The clichéd WhenYouComingHomeDad trope aside, Jaime acts like a spoiled brat to Howard at every turn, rebuffs his attempts to make amends, and only shows love for him when Howard plays to his materialism and promises him the Turboman doll. Jake Lloyd's terrible acting doesn't help win the kid sympathy, either.
* UnintentionallySympathetic: Myron. See JerkassWoobie for further details.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The heroic Turboman theme is actually pretty cool when played live during the parade.
** Shame an album of Music/DavidNewman's score wasn't released until years later.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Jamie is [[Film/ThePhantomMenace 9-year-old Anakin Skywalker]].

* {{Sequelitis}}: Pretty much got this distinction no sooner than it was announced. The fact that it starred Larry the Cable Guy, already infamous for making a DTV sequel to the ''Film/TheToothFairy'', didn't help matters.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Store employees getting trampled by impatient customers, which occurs early in the film. It may have been funny at one time (due to being over-the-top), but people in real life have actually been ''killed'' from being trampled, so it's not funny anymore.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Even though Arnold was the focus just imagine the whole movie on Sinbad's POV? Then you have the movie about a down on his luck father trying to buy a Turbo Man doll as his way to atone for not being a good father to his son. It would not only make the movie more interesting but put it into BlackComedy territory.
* AssPull: The Turboman costume in the parade just so happening to have a fully functional jetpack (something not even '''NASA''' can perfect) which Howard uses to turn the tides in the climax.

** A minor one for Myron. Ok he can give his kid the Turbo Man doll. Hurrah. The downside is that he might face prison time and will still be considered an absentee father. Oops.

** A bomb turns out to be in one package going though the mail. With today's terrorist-fearing society, that scene can come off as awkward.
** A running gag in the film is how Booster is TheScrappy in the Turbo Man universe, at least as far as the fans are concerned. Jake Lloyd, who plays Jamie, would eventually be regarded as TheScrappy himself, to an even worse degree, after appearing as Anakin Skywalker in ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/ThePhantomMenace''.

* JerkassWoobie: Myron. Despite his flaws, the audience can't help but feel kinda sorry for him, as it is implied that [[spoiler:he lives a relatively crappy life--he works long hours to no reward or recognition, has no family, his wife cheated on him repeatedly and took custody of his son during their divorce, money is tight as a significant chunk of his income is sent to the aforementioned cheating wife for child support, and he seems to be generally treated unfairly by everybody in his life]]. So despite being an antagonistic character in the film, the viewer can't help but understand and emphasize with his cynical attitude and animosity for the holidays, even though he can be a bit annoying for the way he jabbers too much about rhetoric.

** Subverted by how he attributes him living a miserable life while his childhood neighbor went on to become a millionaire CEO is due to him getting the fad toy for Christmas during his childhood while Myron didn't.

* {{Sequelitis}}: Pretty much got this distinction no sooner then it was announced. The fact that it starred Larry the Cable Guy, already infamous for making a DTV sequel to the ''Film/TheToothFairy'', didn't help matters.
[[/folder]]

* CriticalResearchFailure: Karate Grading. During the Karate session, the boys are promoted from Yellow Belt to Purple Belt, which doesn't happen in Karate gradings of any style. In Goju Ryu, Karate Orange comes after yellow. In Shotokan, Karate Green comes after Yellow (and before purple).

* InNameOnly: Considered this by many fans of the first, with complaints being it has the title but none of the over-the-top zaniness of the first movie.

* HarsherInHindsight: A bomb turns out to be in one package going though the mail. With today's terrorist-fearing society, that scene can come off as awkward.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Liz hitting Ted over the head with a thermos of eggnog could be considered this for the whole film, knowing what a seductive and manipulative sleazeball he constantly is towards women; not to mention how he is always taking advantage of Howard's weaknesses and trying to make him look bad.

** Shame an album of DavidNewman's score wasn't released until years later.

* PlayingAgainstType: Schwarzenegger, to a degree; this is probably the only movie in his career where his build and muscles aren't given some type of display.
** It's also the one film where he plays a bumbling dad, rather than the one man army action hero he's known for.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: While there are tons of imagery and attitudes throughout the film alone to land this film squarely in this trope (having Phil Hartman, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Sinbad as your top-billed actors as one), there's the orgy of '90s pop-culture characters that were popular with kids of the era in the "Wintertime Fun" parade sequence near the climax--a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Sonic the Hedgehog, Rock-'em-Sock-'em Robots, The Cat In The Hat, Raggedy Ann, and more obscure characters like The Tick.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Eventhough Arnold was the focus just imagine the whole movie on Sinbad's POV? Then you have the movie about a down on his luck father trying to buy a Turbo Man doll as his way to atone for not being a good father to his son. It would not only make the movie more interesting but put it into BlackComedy territory.

[[folder: Jingle All The Way]]

* EsotericHappyEnding: What's to stop Howard from getting arrested? Especially from Ted, who has enough evidence to convict him for breaking into his own house and stealing his son's present. That aside though Howard quite clearly committed identity fraud getting into the parade, physically assaulted the other crew members, and endangered the public with his untrained use of the jetpack.

** How about Johnny's dialogue to Janie that Ted was a deadbeat dad, too, until the divorce and suggesting that if Jaime's parents get divorced, it could make Howard a better father. It doesn't help that the film seems to want to agree with Johnny.

** A running gag in the film is how Booster is TheScrappy in the Turbo Man universe, at least as far as the fans are concerned. Jake Lloyd, who plays Jamie, would eventually be regarded as TheScrappy himself, to an even worse degree, after appearing as Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

* IdiotPlot: The entire film happens because Howard forgot to buy Jaime the doll months ago, and Liz, after telling him to do so, never thought to bring it up again until shortly before Christmas.

** The Motorcycle Cop also is on account of always falling victim to [[BumblingDad Howard]] and [[JerkAss Myron]].

* {{Narm}}: Most of the son's lines, due to Jake's wooden acting.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Jamie is [[Film/ThePhantomMenace 9-year old Anakin Skywalker]].

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: While there are tons of imagery and attitudes throughout the film alone to land this film squarely in this trope (Having Phil Hartman, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Sinbad as your top-billed actors as one), there's the orgy of 90's pop-culture characters that were popular with kids of the era in the "Wintertime Fun" parade sequence near the climax- a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Sonic the Hedgehog, Rock-'em-Sock-'em Robots, The Cat In The Hat, Raggedy Ann, and more obscure characters like The Tick.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The cliched WhenYouComingHomeDad trope aside, Jaime acts like a spoiled brat to Howard at every turn, rebuffs his attempts to make amends, and only shows love for him when Howard plays to his materialism and promises him the Turboman doll. Jake Lloyd's terrible acting doesn't help win the kid sympathy either.

[[folder: Jingle All The Way 2]]
* InNameOnly: Considered this by many fans of the first with complaints being it has the title but none of the over the top zaniness of the first movie.