I have to say, I have tried for years to love this as much as others and it still doesn't completely click for me. My wife loves it but then she was born in 1962 so she was 8 yrs old when it first aired. I was already in high school. My favorite was naturally going to be Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer and it still is. It seems like a lot of people love these based more on the impression it left on them as children.
I still give it 7/10 mainly because the animation work is astounding and the story is actually good for what it is. I love that this and Rudolph 'explain' the origins of some of our Christmas fables. And do it imaginatively.
But I find myself picking this one apart much more than Rudolph and again, it's the difference in age.
Some of the choices they made are odd. Like why do they make Kris Kringle a cartoonish redhaired teenager and the future Mrs Kringle a more realistic hottie with huge boobs? And at one point she has her hair down and is singing in the middle of this psychedelic animation that looks like a cartoon version of '2001'. A long and completely unnecessary scene at that.
The middle section is long and padded with the Burgermeister's nonsense taking up way too much running time. He is goofy and funny with his purple felt mouth but honestly is just a Nazi caricature and a bumbling moron who is not the least bit threatening.
Some of the songs aren't that great either. Although sometimes catchy, lyrically they are somewhat cringeworthy and kind of slow the whole thing down even more. It's like this was padded for the first network it aired on.
But that aside, that this amazing stop motion work was made for a tv show is a credit to Rankin/Bass and whoever else was involved in it. Their work is a huge improvement over Rudolph too. And the story was well thought out. It just needed a lot more editing.
Again, I have watched it 3-4 times with my wife and I have to censor my poking fun at it as she still enjoys it. Oh well, every generation has their version of 'classic'.
I still give it 7/10 mainly because the animation work is astounding and the story is actually good for what it is. I love that this and Rudolph 'explain' the origins of some of our Christmas fables. And do it imaginatively.
But I find myself picking this one apart much more than Rudolph and again, it's the difference in age.
Some of the choices they made are odd. Like why do they make Kris Kringle a cartoonish redhaired teenager and the future Mrs Kringle a more realistic hottie with huge boobs? And at one point she has her hair down and is singing in the middle of this psychedelic animation that looks like a cartoon version of '2001'. A long and completely unnecessary scene at that.
The middle section is long and padded with the Burgermeister's nonsense taking up way too much running time. He is goofy and funny with his purple felt mouth but honestly is just a Nazi caricature and a bumbling moron who is not the least bit threatening.
Some of the songs aren't that great either. Although sometimes catchy, lyrically they are somewhat cringeworthy and kind of slow the whole thing down even more. It's like this was padded for the first network it aired on.
But that aside, that this amazing stop motion work was made for a tv show is a credit to Rankin/Bass and whoever else was involved in it. Their work is a huge improvement over Rudolph too. And the story was well thought out. It just needed a lot more editing.
Again, I have watched it 3-4 times with my wife and I have to censor my poking fun at it as she still enjoys it. Oh well, every generation has their version of 'classic'.