Viewing Thoughts: This post might run short so since I might take some time out to watch The Doctor Who Christmas special and my particular reviewing style doesn't allow me to become completely engrossed like I will with the Doctor.
There are some good Rankin-Bass specials. Santa Claus is Coming to Town isn't quite one of them. It is by no means terribble, but it just isn't good enough to be part of the yearly rotation. It's basicall Santa Claus's secret origin as told by a mail man. It does have Fred Astaire as the mail man who provides our framing story. There's even a bit of awesome continuity with Mickey Rooney as the voice of Santa Claus as in The Year Without Santa Claus. Anyway, it beings with an evil German being responsible for all of troubles of a town. Animals rescue baby Santa and they drop him off with an elf named Dingle Kringle. I wish I could make this up. His nearly identical brothers show up. They all have squeaky voices that make me want stick rusty nails in my ears.
Like all origin stories of mythological figures, this one runs into some problems, namely adding extra characters with no use.In this case, we got the Kringles, the Evil German, and the Winter Warlock. Then we have, "How did they get his costume?" In this case, once he's older, Kris gets given the costume and some stupid kid says, "That's how he got the red suit."
One of the problems with this one is that the animation is even more stilted than usual. Some of the mouths barely move, The kids who are supposed to be sad just look dead eyed. Actually, no one shows all that much emotion. That is the problem with stop motion animation. The faces, if not done well, don't show much emotion. When done right though, it rocks. Anyway, the Evil German outlaws toys, Kris gets run out of town and the Winter Warlock gets thawed out by getting a toy. It's kinda sentimental but not really at the same time. He gets a song and seems to be the only good figure in the special. Anyway, apparently Santa gives gifts at night to escape the evil German's forces and he goes in through the chimney because all the doors would be locked. Yeah, I don't much get it either. Kringle gets captured. Evil German burns the toys in front the children and this has somehow become a Nazi metaphor. So, the Kringles all escape with magic feed corn.
Yeah... I can't continue. This is terrible. Kids pipe in annoyingly for the rest, the evil German is defeated by old age. Seriously, we get little resolution outside of Santa just outlives the Evil German. I'm just sick of this special and let's watch something worse to dull the pain.
Doctor Who: Holy Crap...
Notable Commercials: James Cameron must have been hard up on money to sell out Avatar as much as he has. This is why I refuse to see the movie. If something is this good, it shouldn't need this much commercialization or a sandwich at McDonald's.
Late Christmas Ideas: I... I don't have words for... Sorry, I think that may be one of the better Doctor Who Christmas Specials.
The Tally
Mountain Dews Left: 9
Energy Drinks Left: 3
Cups of Coffee drank: 0
Sanity Rating (1 being most people, 10 being your average Doctor Who 2-Parter): 6
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