Let me tell you something...I LOVE Rankin Bass. And who doesn't? Rankin Bass is as much a part of my childhood as Disney, Dreamworks or Aardman. I don't know a single person who hasn't at least seen ONE of their Christmas specials, be it Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman or any of their half dozen Santa Claus related films starring Mickey Rooney. If Disney is the king of traditional animation, then Rankin Bass is the undisputed master of the Christmas special. But, unfortunately, nobody is perfect, and "Jack Frost" has to be the prime example of the imperfection of Rankin Bass. Not only is it their worst movie by far, it's one of the worst Christmas specials period.
"Jack Frost" is a Holiday special with absolutely NO charm whatsoever. I can't think of a single nice thing to say about it. The story feels both rushed and all over the place at the same time, featuring a problem that's resolved in about 5 seconds and constantly cuts from flashback to present time to make the story seem longer than it is. It's a cheap tactic, but not at all surprising given the cheap nature of the movie as a whole.
The characters are even worse. Every character in this movie is either totally incompetent, a selfish asshole or painfully unfunny. Jack Frost is an idiot who is incapable of performing even the simplest tasks right, Snip is also an idiot who is incapable of performing even the simplest tasks right, Pardon-Me-Pete is not only horribly unfunny but completely unnecessary to anything in the movie, Kubla Krause is pretty much Diet Burgermeister from "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town", Elisa is a selfish empty-headed flower pot whose idea of love is completely superficial and Sir Ravenal Rightfellow is one of the most uninteresting, uncharming Mary Sues I have seen in all of fiction. And yes, as you could guess, Elisa and Rightfellow hit it off and end up marrying despite knowing literally nothing about each others personality or character beyond being beautiful. Great lesson for kids, especially in a Christmas movie.
Now for the voice acting...It's god awful. But, that being said, it's a special kind of god awful. Pretty much every other Rankin Bass movie I can think of despite whatever faults they may have had did have pretty top tier voice acting that added a lot of charm and even emotional weight to the movie. There are two kinds of performances in this movie; dubbing as wooden as the film's puppets and dubbing so bad that you actually wonder if the voice actors even understand what they are saying. I might expect something like that from a Video Brinquedo film, but NEVER from Rankin Bass.
And the musical numbers...My GOD the musical numbers. The musical numbers in this movie are terrible in every way. They're uncreative/unthought out, they come out of nowhere, and they wreck what very little momentum and energy the film has going for it. The film's wretched songs were without a doubt the final nail in the coffin for this abomination.
"Jack Frost" is one of the worst Christmas specials I have ever sat through and easily the worst Rankin Bass movie ever made. The story is awful, the voice acting is pathetic, the characters are unlikable and the songs...My God, the songs. There is truly nothing redeeming about this movie, and the entire time watching it I just sat in my couch with an angry look on my face.
"Jack Frost" is a Holiday special with absolutely NO charm whatsoever. I can't think of a single nice thing to say about it. The story feels both rushed and all over the place at the same time, featuring a problem that's resolved in about 5 seconds and constantly cuts from flashback to present time to make the story seem longer than it is. It's a cheap tactic, but not at all surprising given the cheap nature of the movie as a whole.
The characters are even worse. Every character in this movie is either totally incompetent, a selfish asshole or painfully unfunny. Jack Frost is an idiot who is incapable of performing even the simplest tasks right, Snip is also an idiot who is incapable of performing even the simplest tasks right, Pardon-Me-Pete is not only horribly unfunny but completely unnecessary to anything in the movie, Kubla Krause is pretty much Diet Burgermeister from "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town", Elisa is a selfish empty-headed flower pot whose idea of love is completely superficial and Sir Ravenal Rightfellow is one of the most uninteresting, uncharming Mary Sues I have seen in all of fiction. And yes, as you could guess, Elisa and Rightfellow hit it off and end up marrying despite knowing literally nothing about each others personality or character beyond being beautiful. Great lesson for kids, especially in a Christmas movie.
Now for the voice acting...It's god awful. But, that being said, it's a special kind of god awful. Pretty much every other Rankin Bass movie I can think of despite whatever faults they may have had did have pretty top tier voice acting that added a lot of charm and even emotional weight to the movie. There are two kinds of performances in this movie; dubbing as wooden as the film's puppets and dubbing so bad that you actually wonder if the voice actors even understand what they are saying. I might expect something like that from a Video Brinquedo film, but NEVER from Rankin Bass.
And the musical numbers...My GOD the musical numbers. The musical numbers in this movie are terrible in every way. They're uncreative/unthought out, they come out of nowhere, and they wreck what very little momentum and energy the film has going for it. The film's wretched songs were without a doubt the final nail in the coffin for this abomination.
"Jack Frost" is one of the worst Christmas specials I have ever sat through and easily the worst Rankin Bass movie ever made. The story is awful, the voice acting is pathetic, the characters are unlikable and the songs...My God, the songs. There is truly nothing redeeming about this movie, and the entire time watching it I just sat in my couch with an angry look on my face.