The Grinch Factor

  Christmas  

        The weird thing about making "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" a long movie is that it's not meant to be one. The 2000 Grinch movie has some good merits to it, even if If I'm not a big fan of it. Jim Carrey playing the Grinch is pretty interesting and he brings his own quirks to the character.  The 2018 movie is fine, if anything that's it , fine. It's not awful in the sense that it makes Dr. Seuss rise from his grave and exact his vengeance upon Comcast for allowing such a thing to exist.  

  

   It's fine, meaning that it's okay. The main thing both the 2000 and 2018 movies have to do is make a short story a feature length movie; it a truly short story, to the point that the 1966 special, that is 25 minutes long has to stretch out things to fit 25 minutes. Though that special used songs and animation to do it, it was able to take something that was a page in the book and make it sequence. The 1966 special takes the mind set of taking the story and transferring to animation but doesn't have to fit 90 minutes.  The 2018 movie is 86 minutes long; the 2000 live-action film in 105 minutes long. 

   

       The basic story of the Grinch is that he hates Christmas and the 66 special says we don't know why, makes some guesses about his shoes and his heart being too small, but hand waves it and says whatever the reason, he doesn't like Christmas. It kind of lets you ponder, why , but his reasoning isn't really to the story.  The 2000 and 2018 movies decide the best approach to fill time is to fill time.  They give a back story, both are kind of close, the idea is the Grinch is orphan who as a child had negative interactions with the Whos.  The 2000 movie goes with he was in school with some of them and they made fun of him for not being human, while the 2018 goes for he was left behind at orphanage and Christmas was a hard time for him. They both find away to tie in Christmas specially to show why he might have ire towards the day. 

   

            In a way, the Grinch story has the same idea as "A Charlie Brown Christmas", Charlie Brown wonders about the commercialization of Christmas , the story of the Grinch is to show that Christmas is more than just trees, Santa, gifts, roasts beasts, and things.  The main story and '66 special really don't give us much about the Whos and  again, that's one way to keep the story short and all we really need them for is that they are there for the plot: their celebration annoys the Grinch, their honoring Christmas after the Grinch steals Christmas is have Mr. G switch to figuring out that Christmas is more than just the stuff, and decides to return the stuff and the whos have him feast with them and they don't execute him.   

  

   The movies have ,again, need to fill time, so it does  dive on the Whos. That's where things get a little stuck. The 2000 movie depicts the Whos has an allegory of current times (2000 times) they are obsessed with gifts, decorations, the flash.  This kind of hurts the big ending idea that's supposed to pivot the Grinch into being kind. Which again is the biggest part of the Grinch story , he's a Scrooge and turns kind like Scrooge taking Christmas into heart. Having the the Whos be annoying and jerks ,kind of makes one want to root for the Grinch to just burn down their town.  The 2000 movie makes them unlikable, all except young Cindy Lou Who, whom has own topic coming up.  It's weird when the Grinch takes their stuff they go "Oh wow, yeah Christmas is more than just stuff" after not showing any signs of that and not using the expanded time they have to show maybe how they realized that message. Could have written it where the Whos were annoying like they were, but then have them realize they were caught up too much too, like many of us can be, then it would show both sides growing thanks to the power of Christmas, and that keeps it closer to the spirit of the original story. 

    

      The 2018 Whos are slightly more palatable than the 2000 ones. They are kind of like like our modern (2018 times) and they kind of are big on Christmas and slightly annoying the Grinch but not in a way that makes it seem like they want to be mean to him or have malice towards him compared to 2000. This movie does take a different direction in having two plots mesh together. 

       

         The 2018 Whos are better than the 2000 Whos.  That's if you want  Who development. They were going to hard into the idea of making a reason for the Grinch to hate Christmas they forgot that there was also a reason the Whos worked in the original story in the first place. The 2018 one at least balanced it out, by making the reason he hates Christmas be loneliness.

      Let's talk about Cindy Lou Who.  She doesn't have much a role in the original story and the '66 special, maybe to show the Grinch has a little bit of kindness in him, by getting her some water or something.  In the 2000 and 2018 movies, her role is expanded.  I don't think this was bad idea, since she's the only named Who character, and her being a child they are able to do a contrast to the cynical Grinch. In both movies she's way more than 2, though , she speaks pretty well for being no more than 2 in the 66 special so maybe...the rhyme was trying too hard. 

     Cindy's role in 2000 is she's a contrast to the other Whos. She's sweet, kind, and caring, and doesn't care for the others over commercialization of Christmas. Her parents don't seem to be giving her attention as much as they are wrapped up Christmas as well. Her parents are not the worst Whos in the film, though.  Cindy's role is there to contrast the Grinch as well, she also seems curious about him.  She wants the Grinch to  feel accepted and hopes the best for him.  

     Essentially in the 2000 movie, she's exhibiting the traits of what Christmas should be like: caring for others and not being self absorbed. The mayor, the worst character in this movie, puts blame on Cindy during the big "oh no Christmas has been stolen " moment but it makes her parents stand up for her and mention that she's the only one around there that's been caring about Christmas. It sets up a more forced they understand Christmas thing versus the original story. That's not a fault on Cindy's character, that's just how that movie kind rolls- trying to force the story into it's own story without any nuance. Cindy will be the only Who to really root for in this movie. 

   Cindy 2018, has her own story arc and she's the B plot of this movie. Her mom is a single mom who takes care of her and her  younger brothers. Cindy wants one thing from Santa Claus,: to help her mother be less stressed and over worked. Thanks to the Grinch she decides a letter isn't enough, she wants to trap Santa so she can talk to him. 

         The 2018 movie gives her just as much role as the Grinch and you probably guess where they intersect.  Unlike the 2000 version, they kind of made her more normal like a normal girl and again her role isn't to contrast against the other Whos compared to the 2000 movie. Her main concern is her mother being over worked not being consumed by commercialism.   Again, the Whos in this movie are at least likeable versus 2000, so Cindy doesn't have to be a saint.   

         They work in the trap Santa Claus plot with it being the Grinch dressed as Santa, you can kind of have to figure in both these films that idea of convenience that they can't tell the character they've met before is not the character they've met before in Santa suit.  Her wish to reduce her mom's workload and gives him some advice, that it kind of touches him, but he still continues Christmas stealing because plot. At the same time makes sense because he's not doing a 180 switch yet, but there have been hints in the film that he is lonely and that he doesn't open quickly to kindness. 

     Cindy feels the blame thinking she is the reason Christmas was stolen because of the Santa trap. (Not the 2002 movie of the same name)  her mother consoles her and tells her what Christmas is about and that it's not about gifts. Which I'm glad the movie remembers that the Whos weren't  all wrapped up in Christmas to forget that Christmas was about.  Cindy later invites the Grinch to the dinner that was see at the end of each version of the tales. Showing that she cares and the  Whos also welcome him in, it's predictable, but not bad.

   Her who goal is worry about her mother, but not doing things with her mother when there are chances or helping out. Maybe it's to show she got so wrapped up in her gift idea that she didn't see what she could do to help. Hey, if you are going to up stuff to make a short story long, at least add some fiber to the the filling.

      Let's talk about the Grinch, himself.   The simple thing is that he hates Christmas. In 1966 special, he's grumpy. menacing, commanding, but yet he's convincing and good liar to convince Cindy Lou Who he's Santa.  The 2000 movie Grinch is Jim Carrey, I don't mean that he's just played by him, but Carrey brings his mannerisms to the character. This Grinch is goofy, he's crazy, over the top and apparently doesn't mind being around the Whos but hates them because of the past. 

    As mentioned before, 2000 Grinch has a backstory that as a kid he was bullied by the Whos and that shaped why he hates them and Christmas because it happened around Christmas.  I will commend Carrey does a good job and he was in annoying making up and costumes and he still put his all into the character.  It's hard for him to be a villain because the non Cindy Whos are very unlikable to the point I think they forgot the Grinch was supposed to be the villain, Why should I care he ruined their Christmas? They embarrassed him in a ceremony, it justifies his torching of the town.  The Grinch is the hero?  

         The short time of the 1966 special helps it work better because we really don't need to know why Grinch hates Christmas, sometimes people just hate things because they don't understand or just hate things because why not?  We get a light look at his character without trying to understand him. 

     The 2018 film, has  Benedict Cumberbatch voicing the Grinch since we are back to animation. In this one he's kind of more a normal person that happens to be green and fuzzy. What if the Grinch did normal things like shopping, exercise , wears underwear (which makes more questions that we should ever need about the Grinch) , drink coffee, and he actually does intermingle in Whoville, for someone who is supposed to be annoyed by them he's not like having his essentials delivered. 

          The Grinch here is more the guy who wants to be left alone, but has to still go out and do stuff but leave him alone.  I won't say he was evil as a character in the first place, but here is very human-ish.  Also for design, the 2000 movie where a guy is dressed in suit also has yellow eyes (so help me, he had yellow eyes)  this one has perfect teeth and normal eyes; good work 2000 movie, you win that very small detail. Cumberbatch does fake American voice instead of cool British voice, which would have been great for the Grinch. (I'm tired) 

         In 2018, he also goes around the town and does like annoyances on the Whos. Which I mean, is weird. Anyway backstory is that he's an orphan and apparently there was no Christmas for him because reasons.  They took the line "We don't why he doesn't like Christmas" and really made us confused as to why he doesn't like Christmas. It seems to show that he's lonely and was left out as a kid. I don't know, I've re watched the part that explains many times and I'm like I don't know he's sad? If you are going to make a reason then show it! Show me a reason! I'd take Grinch hates Christmas because Santa ate his parents as a reason. If they are trying to say he's lonely then be clear about it.

            If  I had to pick between these two and don't really want to drink arsenic sauce I guess 2000 Grinch wins this more. but Chad Grinch is 1966. 

          I will point out a main problem of the films  is that they are taking a short story and trying to feature film it. That's a hard effect, essentially you have to make a new story to fit into the main story and wonder how to fit them in together. Maybe that's why there were no Dr. Seuss films until after he died. They both had some good ideas, and some ideas that just didn't land well. I'm against the idea of giving Cindy Lou Who some characterization , but they didn't do anything to make her interesting in either film. The 2018 one, it's fine to have her be tom boy-ish and stuff but they didn't give her anything that makes her different from another character, even in an illumination film. 

   I also feel they wanted the Grinch in the 2018 film to be Gru, but slightly different, like he does  bad things but not really evil, and having to have villain back stories in both movies seems to be something that just wants to be done. 

     Both movies try to go into modern times, meaning they feel like the times they were made in just by the way they flow. The 2000 movie does mention some modern things, 2018 has strong single mom and "girl power" daughter and a rap song. The 1966 Grinch doesn't feel like 1966. It  feels like it takes place in any time, and just goes with it.  The  movies try to fit in the times they were made and what humor they think would fit with the times made. 2000 movie also does some weird things that would also offend someone because anything offends someone now, me typing that has offended someone. 2018 movie, has twerking Grinch , because somehow timelessly they think butts are funny. 2018 movie is made like a modern movie, the opening shots are the town doing stuff, they  gave the Grinch a reindeer thing to be it's annoying animal thing and feel time, like it's their minon to sell toys of , where there Fred toys? Then to keep it like the story they get rid of Fred and have Max do it anyway so, they wasted someone's time. Hey, if you were going to do thing differently go all out, be mad with it, like yeah sure replace Max with a deer that works. Commit to it, they already had Max and Grinch live together like they are couple so that's something.  

          Like , I was  saying sometimes you can do alot more in short time than a longer time. Imagine if "Charlie Brown Christmas" was made into a 85 minute long movie, the 25 minute story being 85 minutes. They'd have musical sequences. Why Does Charlie Brown feel weird about Christmas? Well you see his parents were eaten by a Christmas tree, he became an orphan and thus hates the commercialization of Christmas. They'd also forget the Bible verse so.. hope they never find away to claw Peanuts from the Schulz family and that the Schulz Family won't allow such bad things to happen.  (How does everything you do end up back on Peanuts?_ 

             The ending of the 2018 film does work and adds it's own feeling, but adds a screaming goat at the end so that's something. 

    The two movies have different looks to them, they both show the weird world of Whoville, but there is a difference.  The 2000 movie is more muted in color and and kind of  smog looking, like this was Whoville but also LA.  It gives the world other wordly feel, but not very comparable to the brighter world we see in the 1966 special.  Making people look like the Whos is kind of horrifying, the make up works but it is kind of  a strange look, maybe they should have found a way to compromise. 

    The  2018 movie is bright, and at least feels like Whoville a little bit more though. I think that's also because there's probably someone out there saying cartoon movies are supposed to be bright and colorful more than just trying to recreate the look.  The Whos look like people with some modification, so kind of like the 1966,but more human looking than other worldly than the 1966, or even the other Universal animated Dr.Seuss  movie about creatures called Whos.  

       I think both movies are weak, you can like them but I think the main goals are to just try to make their properties with an existing template because "Grinch" is a brand of recognition.  I do kind of wonder how the movies would have worked if they just made them based off  "The Grinch" but had more story freedom, not trying to jam the original story; might actually be worse but who knows? 

     So anyway, that's it for now tune in next time when they make Daisy-Head Mayzie into a feature length movie. (If they did, it won't be from Universal or their sister companies)  

 

     

        

Christmas: The Town Santa Forgot

Christmas   The Lookback 

         Yay!  A late term Hanna- Barbera Christmas special with the voice of the great Dick Van Dyke. That's right, so get comfy and turn of a light. This time it's the 1993 special "The Town Santa Forgot" that originally aired on December 3, 1993 on NBC.  I remember seeing it on Cartoon Network  (because of course) and Boomerang had it for sometime as well, but apparently, it's airings as of recent have seem to have fell.   (Unless you are reading this in the future and the special now gets a 24 hour marathon on Pluto TV, (I'm making dated jokes some how for the future readers))  

       

             The special starts with a boy and girl, who we'll call Boy and Girl, they aren't that important, just plot devices for the story.  There's also an old man we'll call him Grandpa, he's their grandfather, he's there to tell them, and by them, we mean us, the story, in all its glory.    Boy and Girl  wonder where Santa Claus is, in the hopes that Santa will deliver the stuff they want. Grandpa decides that is a good reason to tell his grand kids a story with moral, before they get toys that they can flaunt.

When's Santa Coming here? / Copyright Turner 

              It's about a boy named  Jeremy Creek who had many toys, as Grandpa puts it, a enough for 442 boys. (Oddly specific) Many times he gets toys by throwing temper tantrums (his  parents are bad at laying the down the law or something) eventually, the parents decide they've had enough and say no more toys. (they had a change of pace very quickly)  It goes through a montage of how much toys the boy has , it's kind of a lot. I think the got the point, but I guess they needed fill in space for that 22 minutes to pass. 

Don't try this at home/ Copyright Turner 

          Jeremy gets an idea, a wonderful idea, an awful idea, a wonderfully awful idea, he's gonna ask Santa, that's right,  Santa! The big man! The head honcho! The connection! That way he could bypass his parents and increase his toy collection. Jeremy writes are really long list, the longest list ever. (He killed  a whole forest for this) The list makes it Santa, because of course it does; they see it says send it to Jeremy Creek and they think the long list is from a place, a place they apparently sent stuff to never.  (You could say it was the town Santa Forgot) 

There's a  New Mexico?/ Copyright Turner 

            There's a town called Jeremy Creek with 2000 girls and 2000 boys, (how did they happen?)  and yes the forgot about this town for years. So Santa and his elves collect all the stuff to make it right, they must fix the past tears. (In his haste, Santa forgot the city of Atlanta that year, though) 

 

Introducing the Tonight Show with Santa! / Copyright Turner 

            Elves have a song montage and this is why the forget whole towns, fooling around. Jeremy counts down to Christmas like a British store merchant counting every Pound.  It was the night before Christmas, all through the house, and Jeremey was stirring on the roof. He wasn't  looking for proof.  His plan was to Kidnap the Sandy Claws, lock him up real tight, throw away the key, and then turn off all the lights,  To take all the toys, because Jeremy doesn't care about other people's rights.  

How's Santa gonna fit in that net?/ Copyright Turner 

                   He waits all night for Santa and eventually see the jolly man, but Santa by passes his house.  Jeremy is as mad as a grouse. He wakes up the next morning, and thinks maybe Santa came, so he goes downstairs and sees under the tree is bare. Meanwhile, on TV  a reporter is talking about a town in the swamp, where Santa came, while Jeremy is mad like it ruffled his hair.  He hears the town is named Jeremey Creek, we already knew this, but he didn't so, he to had to find out.(The town has 8800 people, so 4000 kids and 4800 adults?)   

I count like 5 kids / Copyright Turner 

                The realization of this gets his attention, and he figured out that they go the stuff he asked for on his list, after they say it wasn't on Santa's route. He was about to get mad, when a little girl (with a cough because of course) says nobody in this town wrote a letter. They say thank you to whomever did, and Jeremy feels strange,  he wants to do better. 

Thankyou!/ Copyright Turner 

             He goes under the tree and sees Santa who's the size of a mouse. (I guess Santa can do that) Santa knew about it , and he says he came to give Jeremy a wish from the kids, that's why he's at the house.  Jeremy has a change of heart and gives instead of asking for stuff, and he gets  to ride with Santa each year.  Sadly, Jeremy got too big, (reasons) and he had to stop riding with Santa. (Oh dear) 

   

I really should get a bigger sleigh, oh well/ Copyright Turner 

       Grandpa tells his grand kids that every few year Santa picks a new kid to ride with him, the kids hope maybe they picked.  We also find out that Grandpa was Jeremy Creek, which is why he knew so much.

       It's an interesting special, it's done in rhyme, I found it enjoyable. The animation isn't much to write about, it's good, and shows the quality of later Hanna and Barbera when they didn't have to be as cheap.  It's a sweet special, they do make our protagonist kind of unlikable, but it works to make it to the end where he sees the light.  It uses a classic story plot for Christmas, the idea of Christmas is about giving and not getting.  That's a classic message, and fits well , what I assume is the target audience of younger kids.   

    

           There is an aesthetic to the special, it kind of takes place in the 50's with a retro feel to it, but it also tries to look timeless so it doesn't seem to out of place, minus the fact some of stuff Jeremey asks for isn't stuff you'd see some modern kids ask to have.  I do like how the managed to keep it looking such a way.  

           This special is based off a poem by Charmaine Severson, called "Jeremy Creek".  The rhyming comes from the poem itself.  It feels like a "Grinch" or Scrooge story, where the character makes a turn after the power of Christmas!  

                

               Dick  Van Dyke's voice is great for the special, he otherwise doesn't have much a role in the story, except for narrating. This special is very much in the "Grinch" tone where it's mostly narrated It's like a visual poem, that's not bad, that's just how the special feels. I do like it, it's more fun for younger kids, but I think all ages could enjoy it.  

       That's  it for now, tune in next time, when we tell Santa 493 more towns he forgot about. 

Christmas: The Year Without A Santa Claus

Christmas The Flashback 

         Essentially the title of the special is click bait because technically there was no Year without a Santa Claus in the special, that might be spoiler though.  Personally, I think this is one of Rankin-Bass' best Christmas specials.   I called "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" their best, this one is probably at  least their 2nd best. (Angering the Rudolph fans again) 

    

         I could have waited for an anniversary to post this, so if you reading this in 2024, uh the special is now 50, if you aren't then it's either under 50 or over 50.  "The Year Without A Santa Claus" first aired on ABC on December 10, 1974.    

       Shirley Booth is here to play the voice of Mrs. Claus, and "Hazel" makes a really good Mrs. Claus. I have to mention this first since in this special she's the narrator and the one who essentially gets things done, while Santa waits until the 5th inning to get into motion.   This was Booth's final TV role  ever. That's kind of sad, but she really did a great role with the character.  Actually, it does feel like she's playing Hazel as Mrs. Claus. 

   

       Mickey Rooney is back playing Santa Claus for Rankin Bass, he was also Santa in "Comin' to Town".  I'm glad he came back to play the role.   

          I guess I should get to the special  (yes you should)  so the role of Santa in this special is a little different. It starts with him getting a cold (can you say that?) and the doctor (I'm glad the North Pole has medical care) is grumpy (he works at the North Pole) tells Santa that nobody cares about Santa anymore anyway and tells him he should give up. (North Pole Medical care sucks) 

Your Insurance doesn't cover eating so many cookies/ Copyright Warner Bros.  

           Santa decides that's a good idea and decides to tell everyone that he's taking a holiday.  Mrs. Claus ( who has no other name in this special) at first wonders if she could play the role of Santa Claus. The song is a good showing of her character and Booth brings some fun bits of humor to the role. Deciding that doesn't work when two lead elves named Jingle and Jangle (get used to them) notice that she's not Santa. (Though if kids are supposed to be a sleep then she should have no problems but I guess we are supposed to get Santa out if his funk.

My Three Sons will be back after this/ Copyright Warner Bros. 

    

       Going with Santa for a second, it's interesting to see Santa in a more human role, he's tired and sick and he's also feeling down that he's not appreciated. It's not a way you normally see Santa in a movie or special, he's usually commanding, jolly, so to him humanized is a nice touch.   

    

        Mrs. Claus gets an idea, an evil idea (wrong special) oh, uh an interesting idea to send the elves out with Vixen Santa's youngest reindeer. (Where's my Vixen special, you cowards!) In hindsight, Mrs.. Claus' plan seems well executed to the number like yes I know this is a special written by humans and stuff but I mean it's written in  away where  Mrs. Claus seems to have calculated everything to work out.  Like with Jingle and Jangle gone, she starts doing an act of  pretending nothing is out of normal, to make Santa suspicious. Then, she gives up info quickly and he mentions  the one thing this special is remembered for more than anything . (Sadly, when it's fun all around)  

More after the jump

Christmas: Yogi's First Christmas

Christmas

      This time we dip back into Hanna-Barbera and a look one of their popular characters getting a Christmas special, but wait there's more!  Let's more Hanna-Barbera characters in this special and make it a full 98 minute long special.  That's what this special is."Yogi's First Christmas" first aired through syndication on November 22 ,1980,  the special later would rerun as four 30 minute episodes during the Christmas weeks on stations during the 1980's.   It later would rerun on Cartoon Network (until they gave up) and Boomerang (until they gave  up).  

 

        Funny enough, Yogi is a bear that can talk, mostly stands upright, wears some sort of clothing and

     yet, he still does the bear thing of hibernating in winter. That's kind of funny, but I guess we needed a plot device on why a)  Yogi is celebrating his first Christmas  b) something to give the movie some stakes. 

         Daws Butler is the voice Yogi Bear here, to be fair the man was pretty much a main staple of Hanna and Barbera productions he did vocies of  Elroy Jetson, Huckelberry Hound,  actually wait, that last name comes important here. I said that there were more Hanna and Barbera characters in this special so why not have you two main voice staples : Daws Butler and Don Messick just do most of the voices?   Butlter was also the voice of Snagglepuss, Huckelberry Hound, and Auggie Doggie, so why not just have them in the special too.   Meanwhile, Messick was thevoice of Boo Boo and the Park Ranger, and they gave him a new character to voice for this movie. 

      

        The special was written by Willie Gilbert, an author and playwritght and actually this would be the last thing he wrote, as he died about 2 weeks after this special aired in 1980.  Animator, Ray Patterson, directed this special, (he's the guy who animated the segment in the "Fantasia" called "Dance of the Hours" ) 

                 It starts with the park ranger Smith, Hucklebery Hound, Snagglepuss, Auggie Doggie, and Doggie Daddy  singing a re used Christmas song.   I like to mention this here, Hanna and Babera in their Christmas specials  so some songs here were used in past specials they did like "A Christmas Story" , A Flinstone Christmas,and Casper's First Christmas.  (I'm confused on how Casper's having a first Christmas, but I'm going in to that here)  

rrrrrrr/ Copyright Warner 

           At Jellystone Lodge, because there's a lodge now, the non Ranger Smith characters are celebrating Christmas there, and hoping nothing strange happens there like the year before. (This is important pay attention)   There's a man named Herman , the hermit, who is a hermit (smooth writing there)  and he doesn't like Christmas (or taxes).  There's also hotel manager, Mr. Dingwell and Otto the chef. 

Why did you wake us up? /Copyright Warner 

       There is some news important to the plot, because the lodge might be shutting down; the owner Sophie Throckmorton is considering selling and letting a freeway be built there, instead. This is because of those strange things mentioned earlier from the year before causing people not want to come back.  There is good news, Throckmorton is coming for a week and maybe they could impress her.  5 minutes in, we finally see Yogi.  He's awoken by loud drumming somehow above his cave. (if there were people there last year, their loud noise should have woken him up before.) 

                 He goes through a tunnel and ends up inside the hotel lodge kitchen.  (Because Yogi likes food, get it?)  The chef thinks the two bears are waiters because sure, and that's what they do.  They get to see their friends.  Yogi finds out he woke up just in time for Christmas, and Auggie Doggie drops the title of the movie.   

    

they came dressed casually /Copyright Warner 

            Ranger Smith wants to have Yogi and Boo Boo go back to their cave because he thinks they'll mess up the chances of the Mrs. Throckmorton being happy and causing the place to close down.    There's a chase scene (action!) Meanwhile, Mrs. Throckmorton and her nephew, Snively are coming by.  Snively  doesn't like Christmas. (Maybe he's mad is parents named him Snively) This Yogi using a snow plow chase action proves useful to the plot because Hermin was going to stop Throckmorton from making it but due to Yogi's  dumb luck, he helped them out. She's appreciative of Yogi and Boo Boo and promotes them to bellhops.    Most of the movie is Yogi's dumb luck helping him out. 

\

I maybe rich but I drive my own car/ Copyright Warner 

   more after the jump 

Christmas : A Christmas Story

Christmas 

            I've kind of stayed away from writing about this movie, not because I hate it; that would be a lie since I love this movie and watch it every single year and know the lines and scenes by heart. In the case the tile of the post seems abstract, I am talking about the 1983 film, "A Christmas Story". 

            Like  I said, I love this movie, Christmas Eve to Christmas Day 24 hour marathon on one of Ted Turner's channels : my TV is locked on that channel until the 24 hours are over.  The end of the marathon feels like the end of Christmas to me.    

  

        Released on  November 18, 1983; this movie wasn't a big hit (it did make more than it's budget at the box office) it's about  essentially a nine-year-old boy who wants a gun for Christmas, it's a b-b gun, but still. The movie has vignette stories based on stories from  Jean Shepard's "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash" (1966 book)  With Shepard narrating as adult Ralphie. 

    Oh yeah, this post isn't going to be about the movie in linear fashion, because I feel that wouldn't be of service to those haven't seen or to those who have. That's also why I kind of stayed away from writing about it. That and because I think everyone has seen it, because I watch it so much and grew up with it , it just felt normal. 

    

            For me, there is a nostalgia in the movie, just because I grew up with someone who loved the movie dearly.  Then I have grown to love it as much as say  a "A Charlie Brown Christmas".  The part of the movie that happens on Christmas Day, feels like Christmas Day when I was growing up. I'd wake up early, run down the stairs for Christmas, open a gifts in a mass, and kind of just spend the day playing with the new gifts and day drifts on.  

  

     The movie takes place in I guess before the War. (World War II)  Sometime between the late 30's and not December 1941; that or a parallel world where the war doesn't happen.  The move isn't really about the 1940's (30's) it's a time setting of nostalgic Americans in the late 70's early 80's , like how the 90's are now. (Unless you are reading this in 2053 and then I don't know, I'm  glad someone survived enough and is reading this post)  The movie is A Christmas story, one kid's Christmas story time , but that many can relate themselves.  

   There has always been the one gift that was truly wanted for Christmas, and you'd find ways to make sure you would get it. The whole Christmas season of anticipation where the days leading up are exciting and hopeful.   Ralphie hopes that he gets that one gift, his Red Ryder B-B Gun with a compass in the stock, and this thing that tells time,  but there's a limit but instead of the classic line of "it's too expensive" or "well see", it's "You'll shoot your eye out." a better line for a comedy movie.   It makes you want to root for him,  because maybe you've had your own "you'll shoot your eye out" for something you really wanted.  Ralph Parker's whole mission in the movie is to get his gun.  He tries to convince Mom, notice it's her and not Dad, and she throws out that line, he tries to write a paper, since the teacher does a cool assignment of writing what would you want for Christmas? (That sounds fun)  He gets a C+ and he takes it as a slight against him being able to have his dream gift , instead of the formatting. (Would be weird if she was grading everyone's gift choices)  The final solution was to ask Santa, the mall one, and gets told the same line. When it hits Christmas Day, you kind of hope he gets the gift, and the movie makes you wait to see if you were expecting it or not. 

More after the jump

Christmas: A Loud House Christmas

Christmas 

       How does one take an animated TV series and make it live-action.  The idea of taking animation into live-action isn't new, but in many cases it's derided.  If you are a fan of animated movies and TV shows, the idea of turning them into live-action can be a little jarring. 

        The Loud House  is probably one of the few animated projects that could possibly work in live-action with some tender care. In 2020, there was an announcement that a live-action Christmas movie was going to be made, and then, some sort of virus came around and stopped stuff and there was no time for it to be made and Christmas movies tend to be more valuable around Christmas time. Then in 2021, they announced it's coming. 

         "A Loud House Christmas" premiered on Nickelodeon on November 26, 2021, and also on their streaming service Paramount Plus  ( Which doesn't have Becker on it) . 

        Now time for the boring part (what all that above was not exciting). If you don't know what "The Loud House" is, it's  an animated series from Nickelodeon about an 11-year-old boy named Lincoln Loud the gimmick is that he also has ten sisters. The early seasons focus on Lincoln and how he navigates life with his sisters. Later the series, It gives focus towards the family, then focus on giving the sisters different episodes of their own, and giving Lincoln time with his friends and expanding their world. It's been on for 5 seasons (as of this post) and has been renewed for 6th season (as of this post). Also in that fifth season they've moved the series up a year where the characters either are 1 year older than start or in different grades almost a year older.  All the sisters have  4 letter names and start with L as well. That's all the non Loud House people need to know to watch the movie. The people who know the show , know the show. 

          This is the story of a boy who cried a river of tears and ... oops wrong thing, Let's go! 

  

      This  isn't a long movie. that's one thing to know, it's about 64 minutes and that's fine for a TV movie.  The sets for the show are a good look, they took the care and attention to make the movie sets look like the cartoon, they really did in the work and I'm going to put this here: for set design 10/10.

good set work too / Copyright ViacomCBS 

  

 

      The movie starts with Christmas time being noted, but you will notice it's not snowing or there's no snow on the ground, which means that will come in the near the end because that's how this works. My Christmases were never filled with snow so it feels more realistic anyway. The movie does have a hallmark (not the channel) from the early days of the show where Lincoln talks to us, the audience, the movie starts off with him doing it and will have him do it few more times through out. (Good, since he's  explaining stuff, I don't have to, I'm going to take 5)  He ordered a special gift for his family, and the  opening of the movie establishes the other characters and how his family is around at Christmas. 

Look at this frog!/ Copyright ViacomCBS 

      He mentions that around his house, Christmas has traditions, remember this for later.  You  get a few seconds with each sister but learn about their personalities pretty quickly. If this is your entry into the show, they are doing  a good job of making you figure out the characters' notes pretty well. For the fans, you will be pleased at how accurately they got the characters down.

They stare at you/ Copyright ViacomCBS 

More after the Jump

Christmas: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

The Flashback Christmas 

         A look at the very very fist Rankin-Bass Christmas special, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" .  Rudolph, the character, was created  by Robert Lewis May in  a booklet for Montgomery Ward.  Then  of course, it was made into a song.  May's Brother-in-law adapted the story  in 1949.  There was a short film released in 1948 by Max Fleischer that predates the song and the special we are talking about this time. 

             Videocraft International (Rankin Bass) got  in idea of working on a special based off the song. I say song because, Romeo Muller, long time Rankin Bass writer, said that the special is based off the song because they couldn't find a copy of the book.  This was the first Christmas themed special from Rankin and Bass.  It first aired on December 6 1964 on NBC under the "General Electric Fantasy Hour" .  The special aired on CBS since 1972 and Freefrom, the cable network, currently airs a version from the current owners of the special, Universal.   It has distinction of being the longest continuously running Christmas TV special. 

          Something that became a mainstay for the company later, but didn't at the start. They had to take a short song and make that work for an hour long (with ads) special.  At the time Christmas specials had to be hour long, Charlie Brown's team broke the door open to make it where networks could have 30 minute specials. 

        

                  The special decides to fill in some of the gaps from the song, which is a more story song, so that did give them some material.  They really needed to get from "Join in any Reindeer Games" to "Then one Foggy Christmas Eve" with something happening between those lines.   

  

                The special gives us what later becomes something Rankin Bass liked doing for their Christmas specials, a narrator and host to present the story to the viewer. In this case it's Burl Ives as a snowman named Sam. (He's not Frosty, does he know Frosty? I don't know)  It's two years after the big snow storm that's not mentioned in the song. (Foggy Christmas Eve not Blizzard of the century)

Don't ask him about Frosty, for the love of everything please don't / Copyright NBC Universal

         Burl Ives'  voice is a comforting hug guiding you through the story. He explains how everyone in Christmas Town is preparing for uhhh Christmas. ( I want to see how they prepare for Halloween)  Mrs. Claus wants Santa to eat eat eat, and get fat because she wants to put on  the appearance for some reason, even though kids are supposed to be sleeping! (Hmm she wants that insurance money) 

 

       He alludes to big snow storm (the NFL owns the term Super Snow)  and  now he mentions Rudolph and we are like what the heck , who's Rudolph? He's there to tell us the story using the song (yay!) ( I mean if Rudolph is that famous then we should already know him, this would be his E! True Hollywood Story episode, and we made reference  80% of you don't get, wonderful!)  

   

       You know Donner, well he's apparently, Santa's lead reindeer and now he's a father, the father of Rudolph.  The parents notice that Rudolph's nose  lights up (do they hear the annoying noise it makes too?)  and they are shocked.  Santa shows up to see the new reindeer is also surprised by the nose. Santa has time to sing a song. (The songs help fill time)   This is a song Santa sings about his jingle bells and that he's the king of jingling. (I fight him for that title, any time, come on! )  

I also might eat the reindeer that can't pull my sleigh / Copyright NBC Universal 

       Donner worries that his son won't be good enough for Santa and decides to give Rudolph a false nose.  This also sets up the villain of the special, the Abominable Snow Monster, who will be part of this special later, when we need him for plot driving.  

     The other plot because, there's no way this special could last an hour on just Rudolph's story, includes Santa's elves. There's one named Hermey who even looks different to the other elves(minus the head elf)  and he doesn't like to make toys.  The others are confused and disturbed by this, he wants to be a dentist. (He found out he can get more vacation days as one)  

Well, some elves are Santa's lawyers, why can  I be a dentist?/ Copyright NBC Universal 

more after the jump

Thanksgiving: The Thanksgiving that Almost wasn't

Thanksgiving The Flashback 

                Our quest to find and write about Thanksgiving specials continues, with a Hanna-Barbera special from 1972. Not much about this special I could about, besides it was made for syndication and eventually fell out of that then ran on Cartoon Network and later Boomerang,but they gave up on that too. 

         The special starts in the present day with two adults adult sounding children playing on the swing and have to come inside because it's Thanksgiving.  The special finds the prayer not that interesting and goes to talking squirrels whom are also celebrating Thanksgiving.  Father Squirrel then mentions that his relative back in 1620, Jeremy Squirrel,  actually is the reason for Thanksgiving. (Ah yes the true story, the history books are lying because they are propaganda afraid of the truth!  Hanna and Barbera knew the truth and made this cartoon!) 

Squirrels are the truth and answer/ Copyright H&B

             The special takes us  back to 1620 where the pilgrims made it to the new world. Being there in Massachusetts in winter was a bad time ot try and live and build a house.   Eventually,  it's spring 1621, and the natives have showed up, and  this special zooms past all this time, like calm down.  Jeremy is doing squirrel stuff. There's a pilgrim boy named Johnny Cook, he's part of this special too, that's why he has a name.   (Don't we all)

Johnny Cook , that's me/Copyright H&B

           There's a native boy who is also part of the plot, and they can understand the talking squirrel. (Oh great!) He tells Johnny and Little Bear (Hanna and Barbera didn't sue Nelvana) that they shouldn't be fighting each other but be friends, and there peace was done.  (Jeremy later stopped every war that happened from ever happening, but they made up wars for history books)   I'm surprised they didn't kill Jeremy for being a possessed witch. 

So is he evil?/ Copyright H&B

     There's a song about Thanksigiving, because finally, Thanksgiving music.  It also allows H&B to reuse animation.  The boys run off playing hunter again and chase some creatures as Jeremy tries to make they won't get lost. It has time for cartoon humor too.  Everyone in the colony noticed the boys were missing and they are worried. (This is worrying, because these are the only kids there)  Johnny and Little Bear are lost.  

I think we are lost./Copyright H&B

            I think some Scooby Doo music got lost and made it here too. Good thing Jeremy saves them from that waterfall.  He helps them find the settlement, and there's a song with the two boys singing because sure. They walk some goofy ways to get home. (More reuse of animation too!) Jeremy gets some other animals to watch the boys while, he goes out to tell the others where they went.  (Glad, everyone accepts talking animals)  Then of course, there's a wolf , who doesn't speak the language so he just wants to eat them. Apparently, the squirrel can only be understood by the kids, the adults just listen to a squirrel make noises but take the time to listen to him anyway.   Jeremy confuses the wolf and gets him off the boys track, and more Scooby Doo background music plays.  Eventually, the boys and everyone else are reunited. Jeremy was invited as guest of honor, because alright.   

So we aren't eating him?/ Copyright H&B

        The special ends with the squirrels celebrating Thanksgiving in the present. 

           It's not the best special, not the worst, it's there. There's a lot of the reuse of animation, because H&B did that. If you want to complain about historical accuracy, then you are being mad at a special that says a talking squirrel saved Thanksgiving, so who looks silly?  It might be fun to watch as a silly little Thanksgiving special from the 1970's and not really anything that's too high concept or trying to tell the story of the holiday or anything like that.  The songs are there and alright as well. 

 That's our lookback, tune in next time when we tell you how a Weasel saved Thanksgiving of 1983.