The Simpsons- Miracle on Evergreen Terrace(1997)

J.A. Morris says:

On Christmas Eve, Marge says “for once we’re gonna celebrate Christmas as a family” and sets all the clocks to go off at 7am on Christmas Morning. Bart wants an early start on gift opening, so he drinks 12 glasses of water, causing him to wake up at 5am. Bart proceeds to open his first gift, a toy fire truck (the Inferno Buster 3000), which accidentally sets fire to the tree and all the presents. Bart hides the evidence in the snow. When the family comes down at 7am, he lies telling them a burglar broke in and stole everything, including the tree.

This tragic incident touches the hearts of the residents of Sprigfield, they bring gifts and money to the Simpsons. Bart seems to be getting away with his lie, but his conscience gets the better of him, and the Simpsons (once again) become the most hated family in town.

‘The Simpsons’ has had about a half-dozen holiday themed episodes during their 19-year run, not to mention a few that make Christmas a part of the story. The first “episode” of the Simpsons was a 1989 Christmas special (we’ll review that one another time). In fact, they’ve released two “Simpsons Christmas” dvds. ‘Miracle On Evergreen Terrace’ is one of the best. There are a couple subtle and not-so-subtle nods to ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ and ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ in this episode, and it also contains one of my all-time-favorite Simpson quotes. When Lisa worries that her family have become pariahs, Marge counters with “There’s no shame in being a pariah.” Classic.


Three and a half candy canes:

'Frosty the Snowman' and 'Frosty's Winter Wonderland'

Frosty The Snowman (1969)

JA Morris says:

'Frosty The Snowman'(1969) was an annual tv event when I was a kid. Maybe it wasn't as good as 'Rudolph' or 'Charlie Brown', but it was fun, with memorable characters, quotable lines, etc.
I hadn't seen it in a few years, so I thought it was a good time to revist 'Frosty'.

Quick summary for those unfamiliar:
Magician Professor Hinkle throws out his useless magic hat. School children find the hat and place it on top of a snowman, who comes to life. He quickly befriends the children(especially a girl named Karen), who christen him "Frosty" and leads them through town in an informal parade. Prof. Hinkle suddenly wants his hat back and pursues Frosty. Warm weather threatens Frosty's existance, so he & Karen flee to the North Pole, followed by Hinkle.
Like most Rankin-Bass specials, the villain is redeemed at the end, and Frosty finds a home in the North Pole.
First off, Jackie Vernon nails the voice of Frosty. He's got the perfect combination of comedy & sentiment that the role demands. Jimmy Durante is great as the narrator and also delivers a great rendition of the title song. June Foray creates a believable (not precocious) little girl in Karen, and Paul Frees is a great Santa Claus.

The story is a pretty good extension of the title song, not the best story ever but still entertaining in its 39th Christmas.

JA Morris's rating:

‘Frosty The Snowman’



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Frosty's Winter Wonderland (1976)


JA Morris says:

'Frosty' was popular enough to merit a sequel in 1976 called 'Frosty's Winter Wonderland'.

As the song says, Frosty would "be back again someday". And so he returns and once again the children love him and his wintry antics (I should mention none of the children, including Karen, from the first special appear in the sequel; I guess they’ve already grown up). This time, the villain is Jack Frost, who grows jealous of Frosty’s popularity and plots to steal the magic hat.

Frosty has another problem: loneliness. When the children go home at sundown, he’s left by himself. The children decide Frosty needs a wife, so they build a snowwoman. She comes to life when Frosty places a bouquet of “frost flowers” in her hand. They decide to marry, but Jack Frost shows up at the wedding. As this special isn't as well known as its predecessor, I won't spoil the ending, other than to say, it ends happily.

Jackie Vernon reprises his role as Frosty here and is just as good, Shelly Winters is very sweet as the voice of Crystal. Durante must have either been sick or unavailable, so Andy Griffith takes over as narrator. Griffith is fine, but I’ve always thought his cartoon caricature is a little, well, wrong.

‘Winter Wonderland’ is not as good as ‘Frosty’, but is certainly a worthy sequel. Sadly, is somewhat overlooked today. This special has been relegated to cable, replaced by ‘Frosty Returns’ as the “official” sequel shown on CBS every Christmas as a companion to ‘Frosty The Snowman.'

JA Morris's rating:

Fred Claus

And now an actual, current holiday movie, in theatres as we speak!

Fred Claus stars Vince Vaughan as the title character and Paul Giamatti as his kid brother Saint Nicholas, better known as Santa Claus.

RigbyMel says:

I was not expecting much from this movie to be honest. Generally speaking, I am not a huge Vince Vaughan fan, but I do have respect for Paul Giamatti and was intrigued at his casting as the big S. At best, I figured it would be mildly tolerable. At worst as steaming pile of ... reindeer poop. Well, the movie turned out to be rather more enjoyable than I'd anticipated, which was a pleasant surprise.

The story centers on Fred Claus, big brother of Santa Claus, and how he feels overshadowed by the big S for most of his life. Apparently, saints as well as their families and significant others enjoy the fringe benefit of eternal youth. Fred gets into a scrape and needs to ask his brother for a loan for bail plus $50K extra so he can open an off track betting parlor across the street from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. In exchange, he must come up to the North Pole and help Santa out. All does not go according to plan and Santa is having troubles of his own when an efficiency expert played by Kevin Spacey shows up and threatens to shut the whole Santa's workshop operation down. (My question to this is WHO would have authorized this efficieny expert in the first place? To whom does S. Claus answer?)

Sounds like a formula for disaster, right? Well, it's not perfect, but it definitely has enough amusing bits and a bit of a sweet (but not saccharine) streak to make it work somehow. The scene involving the support group for siblings of famous people is worth the price of admission in and of itself. And the movie does have a nice heart to it really. I could have done without the elf in love with a normal sized person subplot but basically I enjoyed this one. It is nice to be surprised in one's expectations upon occasion.

RigbyMel's rating:



J.A. Morris says:

I agree with most of what RigbyMel wrote.
I'll add that my favorite scenes are the ones involving arguments between Santa and Fred. Giamatti is the main reason I went to see 'Fred Claus' and he plays a great Santa. I'm not the biggest Vaughn fan either, but I thought he was fine too. Some of his dialog feels like it was improvised (though it probably wasn't), which makes his character sound more realistic.

And I also thought it was nice that Mrs. Claus was given a first name (Annette) in this film.
I laughed out loud a few times, but 'Fred Claus' is better described as "fun and entertaining" than "hilarious".
My biggest gripe (like RigbyMel) is this business of Santa answering to "the board". The movie never tells us who sits on this board. God? Other saints? A little explanation would have helped.

Otherwise, ‘Fred Claus’ is a fun enough movie, but not a future holiday classic.

My rating:

Wonder Pets - 'Save The Reindeer'

The Wonder Pets - Save The Reindeer

RigbyMel says:

This sweet little holiday special aired last holiday season on Nick Jr. and I was upset that I missed it then. Well, it is now out on DVD and being the overgrown Wonder Pets fans that we are, we now own a copy. It is a bit longer than the usual episode and the disc contains several other eps of the show as well. Through the magic of photo puppetry, Linny the guinea pig, Tuck the turtle and Ming Ming the duckling are settling down to enjoy Christmas but must journey to the North Pole to save a baby reindeer and by extension Christmas. As with other episodes of the series, this one is mostly sung and the Wonder Pets must use teamwork to solve the problem. Be warned that this show is technically aimed at preschoolers, so some may not enjoy it particularly, but us childless 30somethings thought it was quite charming. (Then again, I've already established that we already like the series ...) Can't go wrong with a message like "Christmas isn't about presents. It's about being together and helping others", in my humble opinion.

RigbyMel's rating:

A Family Circus Christmas

A Family Circus Christmas

RigbyMel says:


This 1979 special is based upon the comic strip that many of us like to make fun of. (Full disclosure, I am not someone who hates the strip unequivocally, I just find that it was more amusing when I was 9 than it seems to be now.)
The story centers on the family not being able to find the star for the top of the Christmas tree that was made by Grandpa. Daddy is depressed about this and little Jeffy decides to ask Santa to bring his Granpa back from the grave as a special Christmas present for Daddy. This doesn't quite work out the way Jeffy expects it will, but does work out in typical borderline saccharine Family Circus fashion. Features a depressingly bad song by Sarah Vaughan, who is honestly better than what you hear! It wasn't as dreadful as I had feared it would be, but it wasn't all that wonderful either. Probably a good one to skip.

RigbyMel's rating:



J A Morris says:
I'll start by saying I'm not someone who loathes 'The Family Circus' comic strip. I liked it more when I was a kid than I do now. I don't know if it's because I'm more mature or the Bill Keane has gotten more saccharine over the years.

But anyway, 'A Family Circus Christmas' is not a very good special. I concur with Rigby Mel's sentiments. I'll add that I found the special somewhat creepy, with a ghostly Santa stalking Jeffy around the house. I know the song says "he knows if you've been bad or good" but I don't think this is what they had in mind.

One good moment I'll mention:Jeffy asks the shopping mall Santa to bring Grandpa back from the dead for Christmas. "Santa" gets nervous & doesn't quite know what to say. That was the most realistic, memorable moment of the special for me.
Skip this special.

J A Morris's rating:

Shrek the Halls

Shrek the Halls is a brand spanking new Holiday special that had its first airing on ABC at the end of November.

RigbyMel says:

I have mixed feelings about the Shrek franchise generally. I really liked the first two movies, but I thought Shrek The Third, while still fun was decidedly an illustration of the law of diminishing returns. Based on my feelings about Shrek The Third, I just rolled my eyes and sighed when I learned that a FOURTH Shrek movie is already in production.

That being said, I think that Shrek the Halls was on a par with the first two movies, which is a good thing.

The Shrek characters all put their own spin on the Christmas holidays with amusing results and points of view. For example, Donkey pictures Santa as being made of waffles, while the Gingerbread Man has a decidedly different (and funny, if you're not a cookie) take on the Claus. Shrek himself has never experienced Christmas before ("Ogres don't celebrate Christmas!") and is trying to make Fiona and the baby Shreks happy with a perfect holiday and no interference from Donkey, Puss, et al. (Obviously that doesn't quite go according to plan!)

Overall, the message of the show, if there really was one, seemed to be that family can include friends as well as the traditional "nuclear family". There were several bits that made me laugh out loud even, which is also a good thing. Puss in Boots
becoming distracted batting at the puffball on the end of the Santa hat was priceless, as a for instance.

The anachronistic music still bothers me - as it has in all of the Shrek series, but really there are so
many anachronisms and it's not really of a particular real time and
place anyway that I guess I should get over that.

I am not yet convinced that this show contitutes a "Christmas classic", but it was a lot of fun and better than I expected it to be. Only time will tell re. the "classic"
status (or lack thereof).

RigbyMel's rating:



JA Morris says:

I generally agree with what RigbyMel said, it’s a good Christmas special, but not up there with the classics. I also appreciated the different versions of ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas’ told by Shrek, Donkey & Puss. And the Three Little Pigs were especially funny!

One other thing I appreciated: You could watch this back-to-back with any of the Shrek movies and there wouldn’t be a big fall-off in terms of animation, production values, etc. Most straight-to-tv sequels usually have a cheaper appearance, more like “Saturday Morning Cartoons" than big screen movies.

A 36 year old is not the target audience for ‘Shrek The Halls’ but I enjoyed it and it didn’t seem dumbed down in any way.

JA Morris's rating:

Family Ties: 'A Christmas Story'

RigbyMel says:

Family Ties: A Christmas Story which is from the first season of the show, first aired December 15, 1982 and is episode # 11 according to IMDB. It centers around the Keatons being unable to go on their Christmas skiing trip and instead sitting around the living room and reminiscing about the births of Alex, Mallory and Jennifer.

It was interesting, not wonderful, but interesting. I spent much of the episode being distracted and appalled by how terrible 80s clothing was and how relatively low budget the production values were. I definitely didn't remember this aspect of the show - then again, I was less critical about such things in the 80s. This episode is not a "classic" by any stretch of the imagination, but if you enjoyed Family Ties, it is a good way to get your nostalgia on.

RigbyMel's rating:



J.A. Morris says:

We're in agreement on this episode.

'Family Ties' was one of my favorite shows of the 80s, but it's been several years since I watched the series. I found most of the jokes fell flat in this episode. Not due to outdated references, but just weak writing.
On a more positive note,the flashback sequences served as a nice "origin story"(as they say in comics) of the Keatons. And it was nice to learn more about Steven and Elyse's backstory(such as their time in the Peace Corps).


J.A. Morris' rating: