 We wrap up the year of 2018 with a Screening Suggestion (save a couple of Now Playing reviews) for Christmas Day. As I type this, it's actually far past Christmas Day, sadly, but hey, keep in in your pocket for next year because this is pretty much the end all be all of classic Christmas specials out there that have withstood the test of time.
This is another 20-someodd-minute special that does everything it needs to within its running time, and is a revisit for me every single year. While I clearly stated that 'A Claymation Christmas Celebration' is my favourite Christmas Special of all time, this one is damn close - it's certainly my favourite mainstream one, without question. This Christmas Special sees Charlie Brown in a down and out funk over the holidays. Christmas is coming, magic is in the air for everyone, his friends are playing in the snow and skating, everything ought to be all good. However, Charlie is kinda stuck on what the true meaning of it all really is while others around him succumb to the overall commercialism of the holiday. Snoopy throws up a light display to try to win some cash, his little sister writes a note to Santa asking for some cash, it all just makes him depressed because the magic of it all seems to have faded. Lucy, therefore, suggests that he should get involved with the holiday by directing the Christmas play. Of course, everyone kinda just brushes him off and doesn't take his direction seriously, providing us with a sort of constant Peanuts dancing scene, and ultimately frustrating Charlie Brown to no end. Of course, when Linus takes the stage and tells us all what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown reconsiders the grand scheme things. There's more to it, involving a decrepit tree and whatnot, but I could also sit here and give you a play-by-play of the episode for what it's worth. The real takeaway from this Christmas special is that the commercialism of Christmas isn't something that's gonna go away anytime soon, but if you look hard enough, you can certainly find that Christmas magic somewhere, still. Again, this one is short and sweet, well worth the view, and holds up quite well to this day. There really is something timeless about Peanuts, and this Special is living proof.
0 Comments
 Here's another Rankin/Bass Christmas special that's pretty much just as, if not more, popular than 'Rudolph'. Perhaps not as much controversy is drawn to this one, though, so it's pretty well skimmed over every year. People still watch and enjoy it as an annual tradition, but one must admit that its kinda been pushed to the background lately - and unnecessarily so. This is actually one of the best all-around family-friendly Christmas specials in existence. It's HARD to find anything wrong with it.
Much like 'Rudolph', as one might imagine, this is basically an unfolding of the 'Frosty' song in visual form. However, this one is far more basic in its execution, at just a 24-minute run-time, and involving just a few main characters. The whole thing starts on Christmas Eve at a school house where the kids are anxious to get out and play in the Christmas snow. Their teacher brings in a magician to try to distract and entertain the class, by the name of Professor Hinkle (Billy De Wolfe). The kids don't think much of him, and when the bell finally rings, they ditch him to go build a snowman. Hinkle's hat blows onto the new snowman's head, and "Frosty" (Jackie Vernon) - as dubbed by our main character, the young Karen (June Foray), comes to life. The special unfolds as we kinda follow it along with the way the song goes. The kids see that its getting a bit warmer, and Frosty is starting to melt, so Karen takes it upon herself to get Frosty to the North Pole, where he can stay intact forever. Meanwhile, however, Karen is suffering in the constant cold, putting Frosty in a nasty position. He needs the cold to stay alive, but its slowly making Karen very ill. Of course, this all leads to the end sequence where Santa comes in to save the day, but again, it's not just a convenient arrival on his part. He's there to give the viewers a bit of a life lesson, as well as instill the overall Christmas spirit in us all. It all moves pretty quickly, but here we have a cute, completely family-friendly and kid-friendly Christmas special that has somehow withstood the test of time. It's one of few left that you never fail to see come on TV every single year, its never been remade, and any sort of sequel it has just can't been compared to the classic. In my own way, I almost see this as the ultimate fail-safe Christmas special. Its about a snowman, there's really no religious connotations to it, so everything's safe there, and the main villain is just some dude who wants his hat back. It's in no way mean-spirited, it's short and sweet, easy for a kid to get through, and is just about bound to put a smile on your face in the end. Even if you're older, this one does a good job of re-injecting that Christmas spirit into the old blood stream. The ONLY slight problem I see with it is that its pretty dated for today's youth. But still. Everyone needs to see it at least once. It's a classic.  Let's face it. Rudolph has been the victim of a whole whack of crazy controversy lately, along with various other Christmas traditions. 'Rudolph' is too mean-spirited and even sexist, 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' is a song about being taken advantage of, and there's even been a bunch of crap going on right now about Santa "needing" to be gender-fluid (which isn't exactly as blown out of proportion as all that, thank God) - basically, the overall Christmas spirit has been shot right in the face this year, and everyone's got a problem with something. I have my own opinions on things, but for now, I'd like to throw in my two cents about the 'Rudolph' controversy.
This is a special that I've held close to my heart since I was a little kid. There were a few specials that aired on TV that were must-sees every year, and this was one of the big ones. People even forget there are two more Rankin/Bass specials like this; 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town' and 'The Little Drummer Boy', which no one ever seems to talk about these days. This pretty much translates to 'Rudolph' being the stand-out special among the three. So, what the hell is so wrong with it? Let's get into it. The basic plot is the song just being drawn out into a story. Rudolph, with his red nose, and an Elf named Hermey who wants to be a dentist, become runaways when their respective friends and family are assholes about them being so different. In their travels, they run into a prospector named Yukon Cornelius, and the three have a little adventure involving an Island of Misfit Toys, an Abonimable Snowman, and growing up via 'Lion King' style montage. It all just leads to Rudolph returning home, learning the lesson of not being able to run from your problems. I mean, spoiler alert I guess, but I have to make that my first defense. The other takeaway is that Santa sees Rudolph as just a reindeer with a birth defect, until he realizes that he can use him. Either is valid, but the point I'd like to make is that no one seems to be able to find the positives in this Christmas special anymore. Many of these "controversies", if you will, are all things that are fair debate. As a matter of fact, I agree with some of it. The primary example is that Santa, Donner (Rudolph's Dad) and even Comet, are gigantic assholes. But here's the thing, apart from maybe Santa (just because he's Santa) I never had any REAL complaints about this because, dammit, that's what this special is about! Rudolph runs away because of all the ridicule, grows up, and returns with the idea in his head that he cant's run from his problems. But that's just the beginning of the positive takeaways I get from this special. Let's talk about Clarice; the love interest doe who barely shows up throughout, but always has something good to do or say. The prime examples include her telling Rudolph that she likes him because he's different, and her and Donner's wife setting out on their own despite Donner's comment. He says "this is man's work" so they're like "oh, okay, we'll just go on our own to find Rudolph then", thus taking matters into their own hands. Clarice also has the song "There's Always Tomorrow", which was encouraging to those of us who had a lot of bad days as children. The idea of "tomorrow is another day" mostly came from her, for me. And then what about Rudolph, himself, setting out on his own so as not to endanger his friends? I suppose this could be seen as either selfish or selfless, but in my head, it's just him trying to do the right thing. Herbie also gives us the idea of following your dreams despite how ridiculous people around you might find it. I'd even say Yukon is a good example of someone who is unapologetically himself. So, at the end of the day, most of the negatives this special has recently conjured up, do have some sort of a balance to them. The problem is that people aren't looking at things right. I'll be the first to admit that there are some things I can agree with people on (Santa's still a total jerk in this), but it's blown out of proportion now. For me, that was always just a funny realization. I never, in any way thought negatively about the special itself for any reason whatsoever. For me, the positives one can take away from this actually manage to outweigh the negatives. So, think of it what you will, but this is a Christmas tradition that has lasted since the 60s. I'd say, if you do find yourself with these protesters, give it another shot after reading what I have to say. Hopefully you can find new things to like about it.  With the release of the new animated 'Grinch' movie, along with the live action remake from 2000, I thought I'd tackle the one and only old school version of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' as the Screening Suggestion among the bunch. One, because this month I'm focused on some of the more legendary Christmas specials. But two, because dammit, this is still the best version - and I'm saying that without even giving the new one a chance. It's something I feel I can get away with, mostly because they've apparently softened him up quite a bit, which pretty much goes against everything this special was all about. But I digress, let's dive into it.
We meet the Grinch as he stands on top of Mount Crumpit, surveying Whoville, busying themselves with the preparation of Christmas. He narrates about how much he hates the whole thing, and devises a plan to quite literally steal Christmas away from the Whos. This is achieved by taking away Christmas trees, stockings, candy, toys, food, whatever he can get his hands on that is symbolic to Christmas. Hell, he even takes the last can of Who Hash, whatever that is. The idea is to make the Whos miserable on Christmas morning - my own takeaway being that it's some sort of bitter payback for his years of loneliness and sadness. He wants these Whos to feel what he's feeling. He wants to give them a day of misery without all of their joyous noise, which is the real trigger for him. And I never needed a whole backstory to get that into my head with this 24-minute special. Basically, what we have here is a recluse, antisocial asshole. So, spoiler alert (if it can be called that, at this point in the game), the Grinch, of course, has a three-sized change of heart in the end when the Whos all come out singing, despite missing all of their stuff. This is a special that lends itself to the true magic of Christmas, in the sense that as long as love is in your heart, Christmas will always come when it's due. Nothing material can take away from the love of your family and friends. It ends on this super happy note, and the Grinch is even invited to feast with the Whos after giving everything back. This is a title that teaches kids (or at least it somewhat managed to teach me) that material possessions aren't what makes Christmas so special. An important message to get through to kids, as let's face it, kids are ALL ABOUT the presents! I know I was. While the other films probably have more interesting and thorough storylines to them, the end message is always the same (at least I'd have to imagine it didn't change for the new one), and this says everything it needs to in 24 minutes: The Grinch hates Christmas 'cause it annoys him, and he wants to take it away so the Whos can be as miserable as he is for a day. Done. While the remakes will, no doubt, hold their place in people's movie collections, there's still just no comparison. I enjoy Jim Carrey's portrayal of the Grinch, but I've found that movie has aged kinda roughly - Jim being the only thing that really saves it for me, anymore. And as far as the new one, again, why soften him up? He's supposed to be a jerk, just make him a jerk. Again, I have yet to see it, but I can't imagine it would have anything on this age-old Christmas special that has withstood the test of time incredibly well. It's just a fun time with a positive message at the end, and still holds several laughs with that undying Chuck Jones animation. |
Categories
All
Archives
September 2022
|
RSS Feed