I thought Officer Meanie and Joy were both performed with a good mixture of childlike/ish qualities. It was obvious from the start that Meanie's gruff nature was a facade to compensate for his arrested development as a young child.
I felt that same way too. I just wish that (once again) the movie had been longer so we could see more of that sort of thing happening with him.
Though, it is a classic cliche, the character that has feelings against Santa because they didn't get what they wanted as a kid, and then they finally wind up getting it at the end of the special/movie.
Surprised by all the british santa hate. I always pictured him as faintly british sounding.
I always pictured him with a German (or Eastern European) accent... after all, that's pretty much where Santa came from. That said, I agree... there was something off about that Santa... I get they wanted someone unrecognizable, but I think they should have put someone else in the role. But then again, (time again) we basically got Santa for 5 minutes, 7 minutes from the end.