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lizardthelizard · 2 years ago

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Ranking Pinocchio Adaptations Part 2

Hello! Disney’s horrible cgi Pinocchio is due to release soon and I promised myself that I would finish this ranking before it does...

Anyway, this is part two of me ranking the 22 Pinocchio Adaptations that I’ve seen. You can find part one here.

This ranking is in order of worst to best. Therefore, this part includes all the middling rankings.

(Obviously spoilers for every adaptation listed).

Numbers 15 to 8. Mixed/Mediocre/Good but not great

15. ‘Pinocchio: The Series’ (1972) by Saban

Wanna see someone beat the shit out of Pinocchio? This is the adaptation for you.

I mean, seriously, Collodi might have burned Pinocchio’s feet off, hanged him from a tree, chained him to a doghouse and turned him into a donkey, but even all of that pales in comparison when you start watching this. I swear, they beat the crap out of this kid every, single episode. And, if they’re not physically abusing him, the other characters are bullying him and making fun of him.

This series is long and very, very strange. I’ll confess that, whilst I have technically sat through all 52 episodes, after a while I did mostly put it on to nap (and every now and then I would wake up to the shrill yelling of Pinocchio, never knowing if he was being attacked or having fun).

Anyway, there’s a lot going on in this series. Witches, mermaids, kings & queens, talking animals that only Pinocchio can understand (which is something I do quite like). But what’s probably most noteworthy is Pinocchio’s own characterisation. Because this kid is a complete brat. Sometimes to the point where you kind of want him to get some comeuppance because he’s so whiny and mean spirited at times. AND YET, on the flipside of that, when he does get punished for his actions it’s...way too much. And you start to feel so sorry for him again because he’s being burned at the stake or beaten and dragged across the floor (and, ofc, the Fairy only ever appears to help him out well after he’s learnt his lesson).

This series is bizarre. There’s one particularly notorious episode in which Pinocchio throws a rock at this kid that had been bullying him, accidentally knocking the boy into a river. The boy can’t swim and, after some deliberation, Pinocchio jumps in to save him. But he fails. The kid drowns and Pinocchio spends the rest of the episode trying to make it up to the boys mother, including substituting himself in place of her son and allowing her to take care of him and play mother to him. THIS IS A WEIRD SERIES, OKAY.

Anyway, this show has some fun elements and it is so damn wild all the time that it’s often impossible to look away but mostly? it’s pretty average in terms of quality and not something to be binged. Rather, a show to catch an episode of every now and then and go ‘hey what the fuck did I just watch?’ at the end of it.

14. ‘Pinocchio’ Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (1997)

Okay but this is a very cute adaptation. As stated at the beginning, part 2 of this ranking is for both ‘mixed’ adaptations and adaptations that are ‘good but not great’. This falls into the latter of those.

The basic plot of the episode is essentially just the Disney movie but extremely trimmed down (since this is only half an hour long). It features Will Smith as Pinocchio and Chris Rock as the termite, which is absolutely bizarre (especially in light of recent events)

Idk it’s not very long and (like half of these movies) you can find it on youtube pretty easily if you do wanna give it a watch. Oh and also? The Blue Fairy becomes the ‘Blues Fairy’ in this which is SO fun. It’s not particularly captivating and tbh I wouldn’t feel the need to rewatch it for a long while yet, if at all, but the representation is really nice to see and there are one or two interesting little ideas.

13. ‘Pinocchio’s Christmas’ (1980) Rankin/Bass

I’m such a sucker for stop frame animation...

PLEASE his design is so sweet!!! And the animation is just beautiful, truly. Really lovely to look at and I love the designs for Pinocchio, the Cat and the Fairy in particular.

The story is sort of a mash up of the original book + the Disney movie + ...Christmas? And also they give him a love interest for some reason (which apparently ‘Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night’ stole seven years later, when they also tried to give him a blonde puppet love interest.

The songs are fun and pretty catchy tbh although I will say that ‘Let ‘em Laugh’ is a blatant rip off of Singin’ in the Rain’s ‘Make ‘em Laugh’.

I know that this movie is a huge classic for a lot of people but its an adaptation that I didn’t watch until very recently so I guess I don’t have the same nostalgia for it. It’s a really nice little movie, for sure, but I can’t rank it much higher because it was kind of just...okay. Good, but not great.

12. ‘The Adventures of Pinocchio’ (1972) Dir. Giuliano Cenci & Jesse Vogel

There’s something so terribly enchanting about this puppet and I don’t know what it is.

This is an adaptation that’s extremely faithful to the book which is fun although maybe to it’s detriment at times. I like this movie, I like this Pinocchio especially. He’s a sweet boy and also a little shit and I love his design and the way he talks. His design is pretty obviously inspired by by Attilio Mussino’s illustrations (see below, right) and I very much love and appreciate that.

The animation is mostly really lovely (although rip Lampwick, the ugliest bitch in this movie) and overall I think it’s nice to look at.

I guess the reason I can’t rank this movie too high on the list is that it’s just a little flat. If you want to watch an accurate adaptation of the book in an animated movie format, then I would absolutely recommend this. However, because it IS so book accurate, it does drag a little bit here and there and there’s nothing new or interesting in it to make it stand out or give it any decent rewatch value.

However, the ‘hammer throw scene’ (aka, the scene in which he throws a hammer at the cricket and kills the little bastard) is extremely funny and easily one of my favourite takes on that particular moment from the book.

11. ‘Pinocchio’ (2002) Dir. Roberto Benigni

I have no idea what to do with this movie so I’m sticking it here.

It’s just...It’s such a weird movie but also....it’s not as bad as you might expect it to be. Because, yes Pinocchio is played by 50 year old Roberto Benigni and the Fairy is played by his wife. Which is...Weird, guys. It’s weird.

But there’s also clearly a lot of love poured into this project and once you immerse yourself in the movie, you’re able to enjoy it for the odd little movie that it is.

Also, Pinocchio and Lampwick (sorry. I mean ‘Leonardo’) share a tangerine lollipop in literally the gayest scene in any Pinocchio movie so like?? good for them

This is also the only adaptation I’ve ever seen that actually bothers to include my fave guy Eugene (left, below).

(For those unaware, Eugene is a character in the novel that gets hit in the face with a textbook and knocked unconscious. He’s only in one chapter and is never seen again. I love him dearly.)

10. ‘Pinocchio’ (2012) Dir. Enzo D'Alò

You know...I really, really WANT to like this adaptation more than I actually do.

The visuals are GORGEOUS. The character designs are just beautiful. The songs are not especially memorable but they’re very sweet and enjoyable enough as you’re watching (the doctors rap is a BOP).

And yet? It’s just lacking something for and I’m not sure what.

The movie is pretty faithful to the book, even including some of its more obscure elements (such as a passing allusion to the snake that appears in one chapter, the eating the pears ect) whilst still putting its own original spin on certain areas (the almost psychedelic circus-like designs of the land of toys particularly stand out to me). Also, the Fairy is exclusively a child throughout and that really works in this version.

This is a really cute movie. Pinocchio has a good balance of being a sweet lil guy and also being...kind of an obnoxious brat. It’s just...not quite there for me. But I would definitely recommend that any Pinocchio fan watches this movie at least once, if only for the stunning visual designs.

9. ‘Pinocchio’ (1940) Disney

Some people will probably tell me this should be much higher on the list...some will tell me it should be much lower. But LMAO I have extremely mixed feelings about this movie so it’s going right in the middle.

Disney’s Pinocchio, in my opinion, is a great movie in its own right. Pinocchio is BABY and very likeable because of that. The soundtrack is really wonderful + always fits perfectly with it’s accompanied scene. The animation is incredible and still holds up today, 80 years later. It also has one of my favourite adaptations of the Cat and the Fox, two villains that I often find extremely tedious in other versions. Not to mention, the donkey transformation sequence is one of my faves because DAMN it’s absolutely chilling. The use of the focusing on Lampwick’s shadow on the wall is just so, so clever.

Oh, and Figaro (beloved). Best addition to any Pinocchio movie.

But of course it’s also got it’s cons. Stromboli for starters, whom of which I don’t really want to dwell on but...yeah. Jiminy is a useless little prat and does nothing but flirt with the Blue Fairy and oogle inanimate puppet women. I hate him so much. Geppetto doESN’T EVEN WALK HIM TO SCHOOL???????

But I guess what really gets under my skin when it comes to Disney’s Pinocchio, is just how far removed Pinocchio is from his book!self. Disney’s Pinocchio is a sweet baby boy and that’s...nice, right? Very charming. But Pinocchio (despite the fact that he can be genuinely sweet and kind) isn’t meant to be like that. Not ALL the time. So when these bad things happen to Disney’s Pinocchio, it doesn’t really make any sense narratively speaking. He doesn’t get the opportunity to make bad decisions on purpose, suffer the consequences (even if said consequences are unnecessarily cruel in most adaptations) and learn from those actions. Instead, the poor decisions he makes are born only of naivety, and he’s constantly manipulated into EVERYTHING and it’s just...not right. Walt was so terrified of making him unlikable that he ended up stripping away so much of Pinocchio’s original personality and ngl it kind of hacks me off a bit.

Also, Disney’s Pinocchio never got the opportunity to be...different. In the book he’s treated almost as sub-human. He’s beaten and used by various characters constantly throughout because ‘he’s a puppet and therefore it’s fine’ (and I have MANY feelings about this sentiment). The second he arrives at school he’s bullied because he’s not like the rest of them. (And yes, okay, there are moments like this in the Disney movie (the most prominent being when Stromboli threatens to turn him into firewood) but Stromboli is a VILLAIN). He was never treated badly by his peers and so?? Why does he even WANT to be a real boy here? There’s just no real motivation outside of ‘the Blue Fairy told me I should be a real boy’, something she told him from after the second he was born.

10/10 WILL watch again. It’s a good movie, no doubt. But there’s something...missing...Something kind of...off... and THAT is why it doesn’t make my top 7.

8. ‘Pinocchio and Friends’ (2021)

‘Pinocchio and Friends’ has SO much heart and love and care put into it and the ONLY reason it doesn’t rank higher is because it’s a show that is explicitly for very small children and therefore some of the episodes can be a bit tedious/ overly simplistic.

Anyway, this show is SO good. Every single main character is a character from the book (including more obscure characters like Medoro the dog and the Snail maid) with the exception of the pirate doll Freeda (but she’s a great addition and an excellent companion for Pinocchio to go on adventures with). There are so many little references to book material and it’s extremely evident that the creators are passionate about what they’re doing.

And Pinocchio’s design is so cute (I love his paper hat)!! And the Cricket is actually funny in this!! And the Fairy is ALSO hilarious and gives off ‘weird aunt’ vibes!! And Master Cherry looks like THIS:

This show is so genuinely funny and the character designs are so unique and SO good and I have a LOT of love for it I really do. I can’t wait for the rest of the episodes to finally be released <3

#pinocchio tag #IT'S BEEN 7 MONTHS WHOOPS #I finished over half of this in like march. Idk why it's taken so long IUSDIFISBDFU #btw serena I stole your image of eugene sorry #I couldn't be bothered to scrounge around for a screenshot of him on the horrible quality link i have #benigni's pinocchio is shockingly hard to find for some reason #god this post is SO rambling I'm sorry AAAAAAAASKUDHASDBHJASHDA #pinocchio #libby ranks pinocchio content #let's see if it actually shows up in the tag or if tumblr wants me to censor the swears 😌😩

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muppet-hell · 3 years ago

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Hey fans of Rankin/Bass on this hellsite we call home, wanna hang out with people that are also fans of the funny little stop motion / 2d animation holiday specials? I got news for you!

https://discord.gg/JNwYba6qx7

That's right, we have a discord server for folks like you!

Filled with your standard community of mentally ill maybe horny teens and young adults, this server is perfect to talk about R/B (mostly Mad Monster Party, best R/B movie) and go wild.

Now there are some rules that our two slightly saner mods and grandma owner enforce and you do have to follow them:

-No Homophobia, Transphobia, Racism. Just don't be a bigot

-You gotta respect people

-We are slightly nsfw, but that means No Porn or Fetish work, there's already a full nsfw r/b server

-Also no pedophiles, pro shippers, or misercest people (we've had several problems with them)

We also have fun movie nights where for every day in Oct, we watch Mad Monster Party. Don't ask how we aren't sick of it. Plus we got some banging emojis you won't find anywhere else

So come on down to the coolest Rankin/Bass server and learn about the creation of Flesh Miser :)

#It's the time we get new fans again #lets gooo #Rankin/Bass #Rankin Bass #Discord Server

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dweemeister · 4 years ago

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Mad Monster Party? (1967)

You may not be aware of who Rankin/Bass are, but if you have seen a Christmas television special in the last half-century, chances are you have seen one of their works. In an increasingly fragmented popular culture, those Christmas specials remain touchstones. Among those specials from animation director-producers Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass are Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), Frosty the Snowman (1969), Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (1970), The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974). Primarily known for their stop-motion animation television specials, Rankin/Bass also made theatrical films at the height of their popularity. Their third feature film, despite not being released in mind for Halloween, extended the studio’s stop-motion wizardry for the first time to all things spine-tingling and spooky.

Distributed by Embassy Pictures, Mad Monster Party? is a bizarre comedy that will delight the youngest set (frankly, I have never encountered a Rankin/Bass production that wasn’t bizarre), perhaps introducing some of them to the most famous monsters in film and literature. For Rankin/Bass’ older fans (or those not acquainted with their work), this film is one of their most ambitious projects; but it is underseen, rarely televised or programmed by independent movie theaters.

Residing in a castle on the Isle of Evil is Baron Boris von Frankenstein (voiced by Boris Karloff in his final Frankenstein-related work), who also cohabits the castle with his Monster (Alan Swift, who voices all other non-female characters in the film), the Monster’s more intelligent mate (Phyllis Diller), assistant Francesca (Gale Garnett; whose character might be the most buxom Rankin/Bass character ever), and the head zombie butler Yetch (who looks and, thanks to Swift, sounds like Peter Lorre). Baron Frankenstein has just successfully concocted a formula that can destroy any matter and, as the head of the Worldwide Organization of Monsters, wishes to announce his discovery and his retirement from the organization. A who’s who of monsters receive summons: Count Dracula, the Mummy, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Werewolf, the Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, and “The Creature” (the Creature from the Black Lagoon). Francesca notices there is one name on the list who is not a member of the organization – a pharmacist named Felix Flanken (Swift impersonating James Stewart). There has been no mistake, assures the Baron, because Felix is his intended successor. Francesca, who wanted the Baron’s position, is upset and plots to disrupt the succession. But when Felix arrives late to the mad monster party, Francesca is surprised to find that the heir apparent is inept, asthmatic, astigmatic.

Due to the filmmakers not wishing to pay royalties, some of the monsters that appear are called alternate names, even though each one is recognizable. Occasionally, Frankenstein’s monster is referred to as “Fang” (a reference to Phyllis Diller’s comedy acts, as she referred to her husband by this name during those acts); the Bride of Frankenstein becomes “The Monster’s Mate”; the Creature from the Black Lagoon is simply the “Creature”; a well-known monster that will go unnamed here due to spoilers is “It”; et cetera.

The screenplay by Len Korobkin and Harvey Kurtzman (a writer for and the founding editor of Mad magazine) contains plenty of comedic padding. Thus, Mad Monster Party? feels like an hourlong Rankin/Bass special that cannot justify its additional half-hour. Not that I minded too much in this case, despite the redundant character introductions and overlong slapstick scenes. Felix’s cluelessness onboard the ship ferrying the Baron’s guests to the Isle of Evil is situational hilarity. The variety of characters attending Baron Frankenstein’s gathering provides plenty of opportunities for them to interact with each other as a collection of dysfunctional colleagues. Their factionalism and widespread distrust between each other result in scheming and dry one-liners (including double entendres!) that complement the signature surreal humor of Rankin/Bass productions.

In a decade where monsters were having a resurgence in American popular culture (capped off by Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!), the relationships between the monsters in Mad Monster Party? feel influenced by earlier television series like The Addams Family (1964-1966) and The Munsters (1964-1966). Other influences and references will pass over the heads of most under a certain age; behaviors such as slapping a hysterical woman to make her come to her senses is deeply rooted in outdated ‘60s behavioral norms. Mad Monster Party? is funnier if one understands that there are stand-ins for certain actors: Baron Frankenstein resembles and is voiced by Karloff, Felix sounds like and acts like a Jimmy Stewart character from every romantic comedy he starred in, Yetch is obviously Peter Lorre, and the Monster’s Mate looks like and acts like Phyllis Diller. The band that plays at Baron Frankenstein’s dinner party seems to be a parody of the Rolling Stones. Though these decisions may need explaining to younger viewers and draw out the film’s runtime, the film’s comedy is just as weird as anything Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer offers. This is especially true in the final third of the film, defined by an out-of-left-field romance and an uninvited guest that wreaks havoc. These scenes give Rudolph’s “elf practice”, the reindeer’s interactions with each other, the Woodsman, and the Island of Misfit Toys a run for their money.

For almost all of Rankin/Bass’ television and film productions, the animation was entirely outsourced overseas. Such was the case for Mad Monster Party?. Using Rankin/Bass’ “Animagic” process, the film’s animation was spearheaded in Tokyo by Tadahito Mochinaga (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, 1965’s The Daydreamer) of MOM Productions. In tandem with the character designs sketched by Jack Davis (an original artist for Mad magazine), the Japanese animators under Mochinaga meticulously moved the six-to-eight-inch puppets frame-by-frame – building open the advances pioneered by George Pal’s Puppetoons series of short films (1934-1947). The dolls’ realistic motions (or at least as realistic as such motion can be) were accomplished by using live actors standing nearby as reference. Mouth movements during dialogue was expressed using fine Japanese paper pasted for one frame and removed for the next. Each doll cost about $5,000 (just over $40,000 in 2020’s USD) to make and the animation itself was time-consuming.The production design for Mad Monster Party? represents some of the art direction in any stop-motion Rankin/Bass piece – especially the moody, cobweb-filled interior of the Baron’s castle.

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Interspersed across Mad Monster Party? are several songs composed by Maury Laws (1964’s Return to Oz, The Year Without a Santa Claus) and lyrics by Jules Bass. Like almost all songs from Rankin/Bass pieces, the songs are not well-integrated into the story, but it is nevertheless difficult to imagine skipping any of them. The songs – though a vast majority are novelty songs – provide a bolt of energy where dialogue may have been trite. “Do the Mummy” by Little Tibia and the Fibias (reportedly real-life band Dyke and the Blazers) has absolutely zero lyrical interest along with its funk rock keyboard melody – but hey, we get the puppets to dance! “One Step Ahead” is just as repetitive, but arrives with the added benefit of Karloff speak-singing his parts (and who doesn’t want more Boris Karloff?). Phyllis Diller gets a solo number as the Monster’s Mate in “You’re Different” – a number to chastise Frankenstein’s Monster for his “roving eye[s]”.

But there are two songs by Laws and Bass in a different league than the rest. The first is the title song, “Mad Monster Party”, sung by jazz singer Ethel Ennis. On my first viewing of Mad Monster Party?, I never expected an opening tune as badass as this – replete with blaring brass, stabs of percussion, and string flourishes. It sounds like it was composed by John Barry for a James Bond movie; it makes a lyric like, “Did you sell your soul to Mephistopheles?” not feel awkward. “Mad Monster Party” is a snarling, unorthodox accompaniment to the monsters’ initial introductions over the opening credits – and the most pleasant surprise of the film. Almost as brilliant is a song for Francesca, with Gale Garnett singing the ballad “Never Was a Love Like Mine”. If only the context for that song (which I will not reveal to those who haven’t seen the film) was not so peculiar.

Upon viewing the final cut of Mad Monster Party?, executive producer and Embassy Pictures founder Joseph E. Levine expressed his disappointment in the picture and decided to limit the film’s theatrical release. The half-aborted theatrical release destined Mad Monster Party? to Rankin/Bass obscurity, even though it would be carried by select American television stations as a holiday special. The studio would remain focused on Christmas material, but would infrequently dabble in non-Yuletide projects. In 1972, Rankin/Bass directed a cel-animated television movie entitled Mad Mad Mad Monsters. The film is a “prequel of sorts” and includes many of the characters from Mad Monster Party?. To this day, Mad Monster Party? exists in the shadow of the better-known Christmas television specials. It also does not help that, since Rankin/Bass’ ultimate dissolution in 2001, the studio’s theatrical feature films have been separated from the rest of the Rankin/Bass library (pre-1974 specials are owned by Universal; specials from 1974 and after are owned by Warner Bros.). At the time of this review’s publication, Lionsgate holds the rights to Mad Monster Party?.

For a time, Rankin/Bass’ stop-motion animation films and television specials were popular in North America – their projects standing out from an animation industry beholden to cel animation perfected by Disney. Mad Monster Party? is Rankin/Bass craftsmanship (and lunacy) at a feature length, and necessary viewing for students of stop-motion animation. The film plays on the horror archetypes that audiences are now accustomed to, amid some of the most beautifully-designed sets in the studio’s history. It is an ideal Halloween viewing experience, but unfortunately it does not seem it has ever reached the audience that it deserves.

My rating: 6.5/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

#Mad Monster Party #Mad Monster Party?#Jules Bass #Arthur Rankin Jr.#Rankin Bass #Tadahito Mochinaga #Boris Karloff #Alan Swift #Phyllis Diller #Ethel Ennis #Gale Garnett #Len Korobkin #Jack Davis #Harvey Kurtzman #Maury Laws #stop motion #TCM #My Movie Odyssey

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lestatslestits · 4 years ago

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hey i don't know of you've answered something like this before, but i'm interested in the wind in the willows, and was wondering what you would consider a good starting place to getting into it?

Hi Anon!

Sorry it took me a bit to get to this! It’s been a bit of a chaotic day, and I wanted to make sure I set aside enough time to give you a good answer.

If you’re looking to read (or listen) to the book, there are lots of places to find it online for free, including several nice audiobooks on youtube. If you dive into the book, I highly recommend making sure you pick an unabridged version. Abridged versions tend to leave out two of the odder (but in my opinion very good) chapters, “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn,” and “Wayfarers All.” In particular, “Wayfarers All” is one of my favorite chapters.

However, books are a big time committment, so if you would rather dive into an adaptation, I’ve got a couple of suggestions!

I think which version you start with might depend on what you like and are looking for. If you like animated movies, I think the 1995 Television Cartoons adaptation is probably the most faithful adaptation as far as capturing the dreamy and sometimes meandering feeling of the book, and the voice acting and animation style are both lovely. There’s also a sequel, The Willows in Winter, which is based on the first book of William Horwood’s Tales of the Willows series. The Willows in Winter is a fun movie, but I wouldn’t say it’s a super necessary watch right out of the gate, since it’s not based on the Kenneth Grahame book. The first movie is excellent though!

Another good option is the 1983 Cosgrove Hall film. However, I probably wouldn’t go for it if stop motion animation (particularly of the older, less fluid variety) freaks you out in any way. Personally, I think it’s adorable. It doesn’t have as much of the meandering feel as the Television Cartoon version, but it’s a really charming film that hits the high points of the story. It also gets the chance to adapt some of the bits it leaves out (as well as original stories) in the subsequent series based on the movie. I’m absolutely in love with the series, so if it sounds interesting, I definitely recommend checking it out!

If you want a live action adaptation, I also have a couple of suggestions.

The 2006 BBC TV film does a pretty good job of following the source material, and I think a lot of the design is lovely. It also has Mark Gatiss (of BBC Sherlock fame) as Rat, and Matt Lucas (currently of Great British Bake-Off fame) as Toad. Personally, I could take or leave Matt Lucas as Toad (although many loved him), but I still think it’s a nice version that is worth checking out. I’m very fond of live action adaptations with human designs for the characters, and this one has some really nice moments.

My last suggestion is my personal favorite adaptation, the 2017 West End musical pro-shot. I would say that it’s the least strictly “accurate” of the four adaptations I’ve mentioned, in that it strives to create a clearer narrative for the story by changing/adding some subplot, and by creating clearer character arcs. Even though some points are not as strictly adapted, I think the changes really work for the medium, and it’s a great jumping off spot if you prefer an adaptation with a clearer story arc. It’s also visually stunning.

Note: I feel l would be remiss not to mention the 1949 Disney film, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mister Toad (at least the portion that adapts The Wind in the Willows), and 1987 Rankin/Bass adaptation, because those seem to be the versions people remember the best. I’m not including them as suggestions for jumping off points because I don’t find them to be particularly good intros to the story. However, feel free to check them out later! They’re both beloved by lots of people.

Also, Anon, I have links to all of these adaptations (and quite a few more) in a master list that I am constantly curating. I don’t share it publicly, as some of the videos are unlisted on my personal Youtube account, but if you’re comfortable DMing me, I’m happy to share! Otherwise, all the versions I mentioned can be found by poking around on Youtube, Dailymotion, or Vimeo, with the exception of the stage musical, which can be seen on BroadwayHD or rented directly from the show’s website.

I hope that helps! If you enjoy your introduction, please feel free to come back and share your thoughts!

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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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Paul Dini’s Jingle Belle: The Mighty Elves (Comissoned by WeirdKev27)

Well well boys, we’re back to Jingle Belle with another kevmission, though per his request i’ll be getting back to Life and Times Of Scrooge McDuck at long last. I also have some other stuff planned and all that, but for now, let’s focus on everyones faviorite elfen hellion as we dive back into Paul Dini’s Jingle Belle.

I covered most of the behind the scene’s stuff last time so in short in case your just joining us, since this one’s got a bit more stuff to tag: Jingle Belle is an indie comic book character created by animation god Paul Dini, the daughter of Santa Claus and the Queen of Elves who acts like a standard rebellious teenager sterotype and causes trouble for her dad. Last time I touched on the character a good two days ago, we looked at her first appearance, where she sent her family to Family Therapy. At the time I’d ONLY read that story, and hadn’t gotten that far into Jing’s world just yet. As you probably guessed despite plugging a decent amount of time into re-reading the rest of Scott Pilgrim (shout out to my good friend Mike for the early christmas present), on digital and in color and into the Switch port of the first Fire Emblem, I still got 2/3 of the way through the omnibus Kev gifted me of almost all her stories up to 2018′s The Handmade’s Tale. Honestly not a lot has changed from the pilot.. while Jing’s designs changed a bit, she’s still more of a rebellious hellion, and while Santa’s no longer a slut shaming jackass, he’s still hard on her while her mom tries to keep the peace, The humor’s still edgy, if toned down enough to support returning whenever Dini felt like it but it’s largely the same for better or worse. Overall the stories haven’t been bad but have been a bit reptitive to read in one giant omnibus. This really is down to the format they were made in: These were one off stories spread months apart meant to be picked up off the shelf with no real ongoing stories or character development and only some slight worldbuilding here and there. In short not bad stuff, just clearly not built to be collected in a huge omnibus like it was and not the first comic collection i’ve encountered with this problem and definitely not the last.

That being said the stories are creative and still well put together. It is Paul Dini and he has wrote pretty much every story collected here with few exceptions, so it’s still good stuff, just as I said clearly not meant to be read all in one block like i’ve been doing. And today’s story happens to be one of my faviorites so far, breaking the formula up a bit by having Jing do something a bit diffrent and also involving hockey, a sport this story made me realized might actually intrest me on some level.. if in part due to letterkenny.

God bless those two handsome idiots. So let’s ice up or skates, get those letterkenny refrences at the ready and see what the Mighty Elves have to offer.

We start at Hockey Practice for Santa’s Hockey Team, The Elves, the kind of sentence that makes me really happy to type for money. Santa’s team is naturally for this kind of story and what the title references, are the last place in the bi-polar hockey league their in.. presumably ran by commissioner bi-polar bear.

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Again, I really love this job and that i’m actually getting paid for this this go round. Anyway, Santa’s team isn’t all that agressive because.. well i’ts a team coached by Santa, why would they be? But Santa’s still proud of his boys... as for his girl on the otherhand he gets a call and we soon find out via mugshots Jing dragged her two friends, up from just one in previous stories, to an air force base, somehow got arrested for hitting on enlisted men, not a crime, and stealing and crashing a helicopter, very much a crime. Naturally Santa isn’t pleased, so we cut to a few days later where he’s letting her friends off making robo kitties, damn I want one of those now, while leaving Jing to do the packaging, though like most stern but fair dad’s he admits he dosen’t like punishing her and is right in saying there’s more to do with her summer vacation than you know, piss off the military. Santa needs his flight clerance dammit. Jing complains there isn’t much to do but feed the reindeer and make toys to which I say.. really santa? You haven’t set up anything else for your eleves to do? Making toys is their job. Build a fucking movie theater. And at the very least if not for them than for your bored and rebellious daughter to distract her from doing crimes. She’s still likely got a few hundred years of teenagering left, give her something else to do other than piss you off. Santa does have a least a little something: Hockey! Which Jing’s cousin Rusty has taken up. Rusty showed up in the first story but I kind of glossed over him, he’s basically Jing’s Dorky cousin she frequently abuses. Not really much more or less to him. Jing isn’t on board mostly because their team always looses, to the other teams: The Penguins, the Polar Bears, The Snow Leopards and the Eskimos because they don’t really have killer instinct, which yeah is kind of necessary for hockey. To her..

But during her rant she does show Santa she’s got genuine talent for the sport, so he makes her a deal: Do a little favor for him, and she’ll swap that for making toys.. it’s a deal.. one she soon regrets but hey.

Jing naturally makes an ass of herself pretty quickly beating the shit out of Rusty with her dad repremanding her and threatning to throw her off the team if she has another outburst like. That is until she runs into the Huskies Coach, Stan.

I mean i’ts a hairy old man who makes a side bet with Santa Claus despite it technically being against commission rules, might as well be. So Santa tells Jing screw it, as long as it’s the opposing team violence is a-okay. And naturally our first target is the world famous hockey player, aka snoopy aka a snoopy stand in. And being a big fan of peanuts i’m a sucker for a good peantus parody. Doubly so since Dini did his homework, and as I’d remembered and a quick google confirmed “The World Famous Hockey Player” was indeed one of snoopy’s many personas.

Not that it was much of a stretch: just about any time snoopy played a sport he was “the world famous X player”, but still it’s a nice little nod. Not so nice is Jing within seconds slamming him into the air and under a Zamboni and getting sent to the box for it naturally. So clearly she’s the shorsey of this team, all chirps and ultra violence.

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Snoopy is thankfully still alive, if barely, though he’s off course been through much worse.

But while in the Box jing helps advise the team and a presumed combination of her beating the shit out of the other team’s best players and her team now not only having something to inspire them but a strategy means the Elves win for once! Santa and Jing share a hug, though Santa advises her not to go for his wallet, it’s still a sweet moment as she’s genuinely invested now. So we cut to..

Okay Hank Ribbon seal is genuinely one of the best things humanity has made but as for Quiki I just... wow that joke is mildly racist at worst, confusing and unfunny at best. I mean... it really just makes no sense on any level and that’s with me not knowing a lot about hockey, but knowing just enough to know Kathy Lee Gifford existed. Just.. what even was that? I know Paul can do better than this.. because as my first review outlined he wrote a LOTTTT of Tiny Tune Adventures including my favorite episode. He also wrote most of the best Joker episodes for BTAS, so it’s not like the guy CAN’T be funny.. so I have no idea how he could fail so hard with this. Just.. what is this. Who thought this was funny? what was the joke?

That.. utter bafflement aside, this newscast is used to push things ahead as the elves are on a winning streak, having also beaten the Polar Bears and the Penguins.. though weirdly we DON’T get a cameo by this guy despite having already had Snoopy show up.

That’s my boy. But yeah there’s only two teams left with this, the Eskimos and tonight’s matchup the Snow Leopards, aka snow catgirls lead by Tashi Ounce, who Jing met at the winter games last year and lost too and thus has a whole rivlary thing going. In a really nice moment Santa stops to make sure Jing is okay going into the game.

It’s part of why I REALLY like this story: Santa instead of just being disapointed in his daughter genuinely bonds over her over something and Jing shows she has a softer side to her. It’s some good character stuff, helps shake up the normal formula nicely. Back to the usual though she and Tashi naturally go at it, phrasing, and fight the whole damn time, with Belle eventually scoring the winning goal. Though noticably while Tashi is just as competiive as belle and lost this time.. she’s fine with it, knowing she’ll win next time and congradulating the opponent. But before she can leave the rink, Tashi is approached by a mysterious figure with an offer and we cut to said figure’s lair... it’s THE BLIZZARD WIZARD! dun dun dun!.... yeah I haven’t introduced him the Blizzard Wizard is.. well exactly what he sounds like, as well as the former ruler of the North Pole. He enslaved everyone there to do his bidding and was essentially, a butt till Santa showed up, united all the various animals and kicked his ass. Since then he’s been reduced to basically a rankin bass villian, lurking near bye and scheming to get petty revenge on Santa for it. So essentially....

Minus the tragic backstory. He offers them a deal: The championship cup for him defeating the elves. As he puts it the cup symbolizes hard work, respect and team work.. i.e the things their throwing out to get payback. Tashi wants none of it, but the blizzard wizard has his slush minons capture her and with the rest willing to sell out, he gets to work.

Bliz snows out the eskimos, and brings up accusations of Santa gambling, which he gets away from by.. having his wife donate the money real quick don’t ask just go. But he has a waiver signed by the other coaches so their playing his goons. But Jing isn’t phased and Santa asks her to give the lockeroom some inspiring words.

10/10 no notes. But naturally Bliz has a sneaky trick up his sleeves.. to win.. specifically a hot french canadian player which.. makes jing fall to pieces flirting with him and makes her entirely ineffective. Okay time out.... huh so this is the timeless void known only to zack morris, that girl from the reboot I haven’t watched, and Regis Filbin. But yeah while I wouldn’t expect Jing to slaughter the guy it feels out of character for all she’d do is to giggle like an idiot instead of making a move. She’s been established as forward and knowing what she wants. I’m not against her being distracted by this it’s just the how that feels off especially since the opening reinforces this. She hit on air force guys. She’s not going to just be giggly and awkward. Jing may not be the most complex charcter but she’s better than this. Aside from the baffling Kathy Lee Gifford gag, this is the only thing I really don’t like abotu the story, and it lasts two pages before it’s resolved and in a 22 or so page story, that’s a good chunk of it spent on something that isn’t funny and that’s out of character even within story. That being said it dosen’t drag the story down entirely, still a good story. Just a bit uneven is all.

But unsurprisingly Tashi escapes her earlier imprisonment offscreen to let Jing know not only the full extent of Bliz Whiz’s machenations, i.e. that the other coaches are in on it, but that the hockey player is really just one of Bliz’s minons uner a glamour. WIth that knowledge Jing asks why she’d help and Tashi shows her inner honor beneath the whole rival deal, pointing out she wants to win from a GOOD team next year. With the jig up Jing pulvirzes her former crush, claims to have been under a spell (no one byes it) and the elves clean house and win. Super fuckin shooter. As for Bliz Whiz he tries to steal the trophy but instead gets booted into the snow leopards box, phrasing... it doesn’t end well for him.

And yeah while he comes back eventually, some how, apparently, for most of the stories after this he’s just.. dead. He was killed and then his remains eaten. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

But Jing admits she had fun, she and her dad bond and we get one last gag as he assumes she learned not to showboat only for her to block everyone else in the team photo. Falalallal we’re out.

Final Thoughts: As I said, one of my faviorites. It’s really well paced, has a good premise and only one part drags at all and only that part and one gag really don’t land. The rest of it is really funny, nice and touching, and overall a nice shakeup from these stories usual pattern of “Jing getting into hyjinks”. While she DOES here, her and her dad are literally and figuartvely on the same team, and she does show a sweeter side genuinely bonding with her dad and it’s nice to see them actually enjoy each other’s company for once. It’s a nice change of pace and one I wish more of the stories had. I’m not saying they all have to be holly jolly but i’d be nice if more of them had a bit of heart to them is all. Tis the season and all that. Still for what it is, it’s a fun ride and I highly recommend it. We’ll probably see her again sometime this season but that’s a bit off. For now coming up I have some ducktales to tell, a chapter in a man’s life story that’s long overdue, a holiday mess I wish I didn’t have to clean up, and in the distant future.. an old friend to reconnect with. Until then if you liked this review reblog it, comment etc all that good stuff, and you can send me asks with suggestions fo ra review or direct message me, or ask for my discord, to comission a review yourself. Until then, happy holidays.

#jingle belle #paul dini #comics #comic reviews #santa claus #christmas #hockey #letterkenny #snoopy #opus #blizzard wizard #tashi ounce

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writethehousedown · 4 years ago

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The Great Rudolph Debacle (Jela) - Puppy

Summary: Nothing says the holidays like watching a movie with one of your good friends (or maybe more?). Especially if it’s some cheap Rudolph movie.

A/N: This was for prompt 1, but I finally got it done! Yes, the movie they’re watching is a real one. It’s a 1992 fiilm done by GoodTimes Entertainment. It’s def initely a trip. Friendly reminder: in this fic, Jinkx uses they/them pronouns.

“I don’t get it.” Jinkx glanced at the opening credits on the screen in front of them. After blinking a few times, still perplexed at the voice talent, they took a sip out of a sweating martini glass, hoping it would make more sense of things. Was the animation this grainy or was it just the classic VHS quality? Their other hand propped up her face which felt like melting off at any moment. “Why in the world would Debbie Reynolds and Whoopi Goldberg of all people sign themselves onto this?”

“Maybe they could have gotten a good paycheck out of this.” Dela plopped onto the couch besides her ginger compatriot and dug one hand into a bowl on the coffee table. “Also it’s rude to talk during the movie, Dink!” she spoke through a mouthful of popcorn.

“It was a legitimate question!” Jinkx hushed their voice and rolled their eyes. And chewing with your mouth open isn’t rude? They wanted to say that, but, as much as they loved her, she wouldn’t fully get it through her head. That’s fine too; enjoy your popcorn. “But I guess you’re right,” They were back at their first volume “All stars have some things to hide from their resume. After all, Bette Midler was Kitty Galore.”

“But that’s-“

“Della. I’d watch anything with Bette Midler… I’ve suffered a lot.” They sipped some more from their glass and stared back at the screen.

It was mid-December and TV stations across the world played its typical fare of holiday classics on repeat, but today was not the day for primetime. Jinkx had offhandedly mentioned one night that they hadn’t seen the original Rudolph, well not in a while. Last time they had seen it on a much smaller screen and Jinkx was a much smaller Jinkx. Being the holiday enthusiast that she was, Dela took it upon herself to educate her friend on the wonders and joys of the film, plus the many sequels and direct-to-DVD remakes of the original: the cinematic Rud-iverse, as she liked to call it. It wasn’t like she could tell though; for all she knew, those all took place in the same continuity.

“I know I shouldn’t be talking right now,” Dela stage whispered into her old friend’s ear, her statement ending with a signature uptick, “but I thought you were going to be sober during this marathon?”

“Oh, I am. Don’t worry.” They took another sip, some sugar from the rim sticking to the edge of their chin and some whipped cream made a cute little dot on their nose. “It’s cocoa. Or… it’s more chocolate milk at this point.”

“Really? I thought it was some Kahlua or chocolate liqueur thing.”

“Nope.”

“It’s fine, you can – Wait is that one of the good glasses?”

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s get back to the movie.” Jinkx embarrassedly smiled and took another long sip, forgetting about the reason they were over for a second. No matter the quality, Dela didn’t just put it on simply for the ambience. Their attitudes simply remained for the next twenty or so minutes: Dela with her terminal delight and Jinkx with nonplussed confusion about this cheap mockbuster.

“I wonder. How much did they have to pay for royalties for the song?” Dela inquired as Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” started playing under a montage.

Jinkx blinked a few times. Up until now, they weren’t even sure she knew what royalties even were. “I guess that explains the why the visuals are so b-”

“Don’t say that! You’ll hurt the animators’ feelings.”

“Well, they’re not here right now, so.” That seemed to halt the conversation until Jinkx started again only seconds later. “Oh gods, are they gonna use the whole song?”

“Well….” The sample stopped and that answered Jinkx’s question. “Anyway. Sorry for interrupting.”

For one of the longer stretches of the movie, the two sat in silence, occasionally moving for bathroom breaks or refilling (and redecorating) the cocoa martini glass. Jinkx silently prayed to any deity they could think of, hoping their glass hadn’t cracked from the heat.

“Man, they are really trying to stretch this plot thin, aren’t they? Five verses of a country song doesn’t need to take up an hour thirty minutes.” They planted themself back on the couch, placing the martini glass on the coffee table.

“You easily can say the same about the Rankin-Bass special too, Jinkx.” Dela retorted, having ditched the popcorn and focused on the movie again. She placed a hand on Jinkx’s shoulder and rubbed it comfortingly.

“But that was different, Dela. The pacing was good and the story was simple! I wouldn’t complain about this normally, but there weren’t any fairies or witches being the big bad. There were more realistic villains. Like the Abominable Snow Monster… but mostly nature itself. And it was charismatic and the characters were likable and there wasn’t an excessive side cast-”

Jinkx was interrupted by their friend shushing her, her finger awfully close to her mouth. They could have placed her mouth over the tip and done some lewd gesture, but it felt too intimate even for these friends. “I get it,” Dela responded. “I think there’s like fifteen minutes left, but we can skip the credits, okay?”

“Sounds good to me.” Jinkx put her head on their friend’s shoulder and sighed contentedly. “But you don’t have to though. I can take on more. There have been more trips to the uncanny valley than I have traversed.”

“We can take a break for now… cuddle maybe? Probably we can watch the next one another day… when you’re in a better headspace to do so.”

“Cuddles sound great.” Jinkx moved her head into Dela’s lap and sighed. “Hey, what are friends for after all?”

Dela nodded her head and turned off the TV. “Exactly.”

“I love you, Dela.”

Dela shot her head up quickly and perker her ears.. “Wait… Dink. Did you say something?” Jinkx quickly shook their head. “Oh, okay… but in case you did. I love you too.”

#rpdr fanfiction #jela #jinkx monsoon #bendelacreme #the great rudolph debacle #puppy #lesbian au #fluff #ficmas 2020 #day 1: reindeer #submission

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androace-bunny · 5 years ago

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Christmas Movie Marathon on Kast!

Hey fellas! I've decided sharing this bit of news on my Tumblr as well, just so some of my followers here can get informed about this upcoming event.

As we are nearing a totally new decade, I wish to end this one off with a bang! So, I'm gonna be hosting a daily livestream event over on the new website Kast, airing animated and Christmas-themed movies over there!!

This daily event will include such favourites as... Frozen, Coco, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Elf, The Muppet Christmas Carol, the Toy Story movies, Zootopia, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Cats Don't Dance, Balto, My Neighbour Totoro, Wreck-it Ralph & Ralph Breaks the Internet, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast (both the original animated ones!), The Iron Giant, Spirited Away, The Greatest Showman, The Secret of NIMH and many more!!

Also, I'll be dedicating the 21st day of December (four days before Christmas) to a whole half-a-day's worth of Christmas and winter-themed cartoons, including the Rankin/Bass classics Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (which is celebrating its 55th anniversary this year btw!) and Frosty the Snowman, Mickey's Christmas Carol, Olaf's Frozen Adventure, Peace on Earth, Lend a Paw, Tom and Jerry's Night Before Christmas, The Bear and the Hare (John Lewis '13 Christmas), The Small One, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Toy Story that Time Forgot and much more!

For more info, go here: https://m.facebook.com/xmasmovies2019/posts/

What is Kast, you may ask?? Well, Kast is a new website that had just emerged in August, where you can livestream a movie, or a TV show episode, or a YouTube video of your choice, and invite your friends to take part in the chat wall, and enjoy the virtual experience with you! Yes, it's similar to Rabb.it, but that website shut down when it was acquired by Kast, so the latter's the new platform I shall use from now on! ^^

I invite you to join my Kast server in the meantime: s.kast.gg/g/e2nvxwrib9 (Of course, you'll have to create a Kast account first)

Hope to see many of you fellas there! And have a very Happy Thanksgiving! ^^

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joyofcrime-elinorhigh · 6 years ago

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Frosty Returns REVIEW:

Hello there, everybody. My name is JoyofCrimeArt and welcome to the second review in my month long "Deviant-cember" special event. Christmas time is right around the corner and I don't know about you, but I'm loving it. Christmas is awesome! (No offence to any non Christian or non practicing readers out there. I'm sure your holidays are awesome to, I guess have no personal experience in that department.) The music, the decorations, the food, and the festive feeling of kindness towards your fellow man are all things that make this time of year so wonderful! But one of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is all of the Christmas specials. I love Christmas specials. Every year I make it my personal mission to watch as many as I can, from classics like "Rudolph" and "Charlie Brown", to the more contemporary specials like "Olive the Other Reindeer" and "Yes, Virginia." And that's not even counting the really frickin' out there Christmas specials, like "T.I and Tiny's Holiday Hustle." an animated special about hip hop artist T.I. and his family having to team up with an elf in order to save Christmas. Yes, this exist! But that's a review for another day...

(THIS EXISTS!) Today, I want to talk about a different holiday special. A holiday special that features significantly less hip hop and also significantly less holiday. That special would be the 1992 animated tv special "Frosty Returns."

"Frosty Returns" is the a um....sequel?.....Reboot?.....Cash grab? -Of the original Rankin-Bass Frosty special from 1969. This special, however, was not created by Rankin-Bass, but rather Broadway Video's and directed by Bill Melendez. Bill Melendez is most well known for his work on the four theatrical Charlie Brown movies, and this special shares a similar art style to those old Peanuts cartoons. I'm going to be honest here, while I do like the original Frosty the Snowman special, it was always one of the lesser Rankin-Bass holiday specials in my opinion. Like it's not bad or anything, and I use to like it a lot more when I was younger, but it just seems kinda bland compared to some of the other specials. In the original special Frosty was never a super interesting character, and Karen had even less personality then Frosty. The overall story, at least in my opinion, was never super enticing. I guess I've just always been more of a "Santa Claus is comin' to Town." type of guy. Now I don't hate the special by any means, I watch it ever year, and there are stuff in it worth watching. Professor Hinkle is a fun villain, the scene with Frosty melting is genuinely sad, and it's really fun seeing the original crew just go completely bonkers with the sound effects. (Though that part I don't think was intentional.) Sorry if I piss off any die hard Frosty fans out there, (I'm looking at you, little brother!) but I just felt like I needed to show my background with the original Frosty the Snowman special before I start talking about this special. Does this special hold up to the original, or is it just a pale imitation of a true holiday classic? Let's find out together, shall we. The special begins with our weird uncanny valley narrator. A weird uncanny valley narrator is a Frosty the Snowman tradition at this point, and is usually some kind of celebrity who was popular at the time of the specials release. The original Frosty has Jimmy Durante, "Frosty's Winter Wonderland" had Andy Griffith, and this special has Johnathan Winters. Just like director of the Amazing Spider-man films Marc Webb, I'm pretty sure he was only chosen because of his name. Now while all of the Frosty narrator's (with exception of the one from "Legends of Frosty the Snowman.") have fallen into the uncanny valley, the narrator in this special takes the fricking cake! While the other narrators looks a least a little human, Johnathan Winter's in this special looks like an actual gremlin! He's only a few inches tall, and floats around on snowflakes like some kinda sprite. And there's no explanation at all for his existence. He just happens to be like this and where suppose to just nod our heads and go along with it! Also he likes hot coco. This is very important.

Anyway he introduces us to the town of Beansboro, a small town that has just gotten covered with seven inches of snow. We get a brief musical number where all the kids sing about how much the love the snow, and all the adults sing about how much they hate it. The kids love the snow because of all of the fun they get to have in it, while the adults don't like the snow because they have to shovel it, it raises heating bills, makes it harder to drive around, ect. The song is rather good, and but we'll get into this specials music a bit later. After the song is finished we meet our main character Holly DeCarlo and her best friend, Charles. Holly is a shy girl who dreams of becoming a magician, while Charles is a the stereotypical nerd archetype, and kinda looks like a genderbent Marcy from the Peanuts specials. Holly is sad because she was not "invited" to go play in the snow. Now living in the south, I'm far from an expert on snow, but is snow the type of thing you need to get "invited" to? If all the tv specials I've seen has taught me anything I think you just kinda...go out there. All kidding aside though, I get it. She's sad because she has nobody asked to go play with her. I'm just saying, they phrasing is kinda strange. Then Charles asks Holly if she wants to go outside and build a...fertility goddess? Um...as I just stated, I'm far from an expert on snow, but is that something kids do on snow days that I was just blissfully unaware of? Also Is Charles a Pagan? Not the belief system I would expect from somebody who, as the special is going to continually bring up, is a man of logic and does not believe in anything that he cannot solve with logic. Well I for one appreciate the religious diversity this special presents. Bout' time we get a Pagan character in children's media without society making a big deal about it! That's what I say!

pictured Demeter, our Holy Jolly Fertility Goddess.) Anyway, Holly decides that instead of doing...that, she'd rather practice her magic for the magic act because Holly is going to be preforming her magic act during the annual winter carnival in front of the entire town. Holly tells Charles to get into a box and then she gets out the saw. Oh geez, I think this specials about to get a bit dark. Holly doesn't even have another box attached to the box that Charles is in. And the box isn't even closed! Holly clearly has no idea what she's doing and Charles is going to pay the ultimate price for it. This is about to become a very red Christmas. But luckily before Charles goes off to meet Persephone, he asks Holly to open a window because it's hot inside the box. Then a giant gust of wind blows in the room and Holly loses her magic hat. And by giant gust I mean, I pretty sure there's a class five hurricane going on outside and those kids really need to get inside. I mean the wind is strong enough to spin Charles' box around at ridiculous speeds. So then Holly decides to chase after her hat and-HEY WAIT HOLLY, WHAT ABOUT CHARLES?! You're just going to leave him spinning in that box until he vomits, just to go get your stupid hat? It's called priorities Holly, Jesus Christ!

(Bye Charles, thanks for letting me nearly saw you in half!) Holly chases after the hat, and for one brief close up shot we see that Johnathan Winter's is riding the hat. I do not get this. What is the point? Is he guiding the hat to Frosty, or is he just riding it just cause? Holly trails behind the hat, (as it seems this wind managed to blow the hat not only out of Holly's room, but out of Holly's house somehow and down the block. Can the hat open doors?) She bumps into her school teacher, and the teacher talks about how much she hates the snow. There's not much to this scene other then driving the point home that the adults hate snow. After that scene Holly finds the hat it's on the head of a snowman, who just happens to be alive. This is Frosty, this time played by John Goodman, who honestly I really like in this role. He has a very kind and welcoming voice, and it's a lot less "bumbling" sounding then the other Frosty voice actors. Not that I'm trying to knock those voice actors or anything, I'm just saying. Holly tries to introduce herself to Frosty, but Frosty already knows who she is because in Frosty's own words she's a "famous" magician. While yes, this doesn't actually make any sense as an answer I actually really like this scene. Frosty in this special is a lot wiser then he was in the previous Frosty specials, and that's something I really like. Like for example, Holly mentions that she doesn't have any friends other then Charles, and Frosty tells her "Having one friend is a lot more than having no friends." It's a really nice sentiment and a good message for the kids, and to anybody really. Holly's mom walks in and Frosty goes all Toy Story and stops talking or moving because...Well look, if "Toy Story didn't have to explain it then why should this special have to? Oh, there's also a funny joke where Holly's mom calls Holly out for abandoning Charles, saying that he's going to end up "needing to join a support group." Holly's mom talks about how she just bought this brand new product called "Summer Wheeze." the least marketable name for the product ever devised. This product is like a can of aerosol spray that can make snow disappear in seconds! Holly's mom's friend shows up and they start talking like there in an infomercial for the spray. Holly's mom's friend ends up spraying Frosty a bit, causing him to yell. And conveniently nobody seems to hear or acknowledge the snowman's screams of pain. We then transition to the board room of the company that makes Summer Wheeze, and here we meet our villain, Mr. Twitchell and his pet cat, Bones. Mr. Twitchell is a crotchety old curmudgeon played by Brian Doyle-Murray. He's best known for playing Captain K'nuckles in "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack" and The Flying Dutchman in "Spongebob." He's also the older brother of actor Bill Murray! I know, it's crazy! He gives a great performance in this special. Now let me lay out Mr. Twitchell's evil plan in this special. It's a pretty complex plan, so try to follow along. Step 1) Make the town love him by getting rid of all of the snow. Step 2) Get rid of all the snow. Step 3) Have the town make him their King out of gratitude. Um......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgxYUxqcg1Q

I swear to high heaven, Mr. Twitchell makes this special. He's so over the top and ridiculous that it's near impossible not to love it. Then, when one of his employees points out the environmental concerns he has his James Bond style cat press a button that activates a trap door under that employees' desk! This villain, man, this villain! He then has his cat, Bones, release an army of trucks to spray the entire town with Summer Wheeze! Let the snowman genocide begin!

By the way, this Summer Wheeze thing must really be a labor of love from Mr. Twitchell. I mean as far as I can tell he's releasing these cars for free. All that Wheeze there using is coming out of his bottom line, unless the town is paying him to use these trucks or something. Then again, I don't think this guy has really thinks through most of the stuff he does. I mean why would anybody buy Summer Wheeze if the company is spraying peoples yard's for free. The next day, Holly decides to keep Frosty in her Freezer until after she comes home from school. What I want to know is what would happen if Holly's mom needed to open the freezer at any point during the day and just saw a talking snowman in there, but that's a question this special doesn't want to answer for us! Also there's a bit where she has to take some turkey out of her freezer to make room for Frosty, then she put's the turkey into her backpack in her rush to get to school on time. Then during class the teachers ask why she has turkey in her desk and she says its for lunch. The teacher tells her to put it away unless she wants to present it as a science project. Holly then, really sincerely sounding, says that she does intend to use the turkey as a science project. It's hard to explain in post form but it's a really confusing bit. Did she intend to bring the turkey or not? Was she intending to use the turkey for her science project or was that just a lie for the teacher? She didn't sound like she was lying. I don't get it. This is another question the special doesn't want to answer for us! Charles is giving a science report about snow, and the environmental importance snow has on the world. Well, it was the nineties, so it was really a matter of time before we got some kind of environmental message. One of the kids interrupts Charles, saying that snow isn't important and his dad says that it gives you heart attacks. (Charles remarks that the kids dad may be confusing snow with chili dogs, another funny joke.) And all the kids start talking about how happy they are that all the snow is melting, so they can do more summer time stuff, like having picnics and volleyball games all year round. Charles points out how snow is important to the environment but none of the kids listen. There are a lot of logical problems with this scene. One, why do all the kids suddenly hate the snow. I know kids can be fickle but earlier in the special the kids love the snow, and that scene took place, like, the day before this scene takes place. Second, I don't get why Charles is so concerned about the environmental aspect of the Wheeze. I mean yeah, it's an aerosol spray so in that regard it's bad for the environment, but if it's just melting the ice it shouldn't be that big a deal right? Again, I'm no snow expert, but snow melts naturally anyway, and this spray is just speeding up the process. One of the environmental benefits of snow that Charles brings up is a source of fresh water, but if the spray is melting the snow it's still making the fresh water, unless the spray itself is contaminating the water. Or unless the snow isn't melting and it's just disappearing, in which case Mr. Twitchell found a way to destroy matter itself, which I think is the much bigger deal here. This special makes a big deal about how important snow is, and while I know different parts of the world are different and have different environmental needs, there are tonnes of places all over the world where it doesn't snow and those places are fine. As long as the snow is still melting things should be fine. And again, maybe there's something in the spray that is bad for the environment, but the special really treats it like it's the absence of snow that's the problem, not the contaminated water supply. Also third, just because the snow is melting doesn't mean that it'll suddenly be a year long summer! The spray isn't actually increasing the temperature of the air! (Well, I mean it is slowly, because of the aerosol, but you'd need to spray a lot of that stuff to make a hole in the ozone layer big enough to create an endless summer.) I mean I've only seen snow twice in my life, but I've still experienced winters! (Though last year it was over eighty degrees on Christmas. That sucked.) Anyway, Holly goes to talk to Frosty, who has left the freezer and is now staying at the winter carnival's ice castle. She tells him about how everybody wants to get rid of all the snow, and how she was to scared to speak out against them. Frosty tells her that it's okay, and gives her some advice on how to be less shy and timid....in the form of a song! The song is actually really good, and one of the most memorable part of the special. I mean, yeah, it does continue to shoe horn in the whole "snow is the most important thing, snow is love snow is life" theme the special has been doing this whole time, and the moral of "when your to scared to talk to someone just sing" is a pretty weird lesson, but dang it the song is really darn catchy! I really feel this is underappreciated Christmas/winter song that really deserves more appreciation! At least until we get to the part where Mr. Twitchell get's his dark reprise verse, and it's basically a weird....rap....I think? That's amazing for completely different reasons!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6PnTmyYT6w

(Also this is unrelated but why does Frosty have a human nose? He says early in the special that once some kid stole his nose to play hacky sack so is it suppose to be a hacky sack? Why does it look so human-ish?) Anyway after the song Charles meets up with Holly and Frosty. At first Charles believes that Frosty is some kind of robot, but Frosty (rather quickly I may add) convinces him that he is a real talking snowman. But then Mr. Twitchell shows up in him limousine and see's Frosty. Naturally, Mr. Twitchell is not at all phased by the talking and walking snowman, and is more concerned with Frosty spreading snow onto his sidewalks. So he does the "logical" thing and sends his pet CAT out to destroy Frosty with a can of Summer Wheeze. SURPRISINGLY this does not end up working. This is what happens when your cat is your elite henchman. Though the cat is able to spray frosty enough to make a massive hole in his chest. Holly is concerned, because there's barely enough snow on the ground to fix Frosty....except for the fact that that isn't true, at all! There is still plenty of snow, just look around you!

But despite the fact that there is still snow all over the place Charles decides to go get some snow that he was saying and pack it all into Frosty. Then they decide to finally do something about mean old Mr. Twitchell. Mr. Twitchell decides to attend the Winter Carnival, and melt all of the snow, cementing himself as the towns hero and future king. Sure, why not. Mr. Twitchell goes on stage so he can be crowned king of the Winter Carnival, when Holly goes on stage to call him out. She talks about how important snow is but Mr. Twitchell is unfazed and unrepentant. So Holly decides to unveil Frosty in front of the whole town and, Hey wait a minute!

Frosty is alive without the hat! That's not allowed! Unless this takes place after "Frosty's Winter Wonderland." Is this a reboot or a sequel?! HAX! I call HAX! So anyway, Frosty decides to sing a reprise of his song to the towns people and everybody in the town immediately decides that they love snow again. No wonder Mr. Twitchell thought he could become this towns king, this is the most easily swayed town in the world! Everybody in town rejoices at the magical talking snowman that nobody questions the existence of. Mr. Twitchell decides to get into one of his weird Summer Wheeze spraying vans and, because he's Mr. Twitchell, decides to let the cat drive. This goes about as well as you'd expect.

FRICKIN' REK'D SON!

I kid of course, Mr. Twitchell survives the crash Holly and Frosty shows him some kindness by giving him the Winter Carnival crown and taking him on a sled ride. Frosty then tells Holly that it's time for him to leave, as he wants to go to another town to help another kid. Holly hugs Frosty and wishes him goodbye and the special ends with weird Johnathan Winters/Mr. Mxyzptlk hybrid telling us that Mr. Twitchell decided to change his ways and go into the sled making business. This change of heart lasted a total of four days until, at the age of one hundred and ten, Mr. Twitchell died in his home and his body was eaten by his cat, Bones. The End. So in conclusion, is the special good? Well that depends on your perspective. On a technical aspect the special is not very well made. The animation isn't very good, with the exception of one scene early on in the special where Johnathan Winter's is actually animated very fluidly. But other then that you can see that this special doesn't have much of a budget. There are a lot of plot points in the special that either don't make sense or only make sense because the characters are so stupid. Also, while the environmental/"snow is totes awesome" moral isn't as heavy handed as I remembered them being, there still pretty heavy handed. Also, this isn't flaw or anything, the background music has a real "Rugrats" vibe to it. I'm not knocking it, but I really wonder if that show and this special had the same music director or something. All that being said the special isn't awful either. There's a lot of stuff to like. It has an excellent voice cast, not just in John Goodman and Brian Doyle-Murray, but also Holly's voice actress, Elisabeth Moss. She was only ten at the time this special was made, but her voice really adds a good level of sincerity to the role. Also while Holly is still a fairly generic character she's still more interesting then Karen. I don't know if the Frosty purist will agree with me on this, but that's really how I feel. Holly has an arc, she starts of timid and shy, but in the end ends up standing up to the villain head on. Also I like how Frosty is characterized. He's a lot wiser, and much more comforting. This probably has a lot to do with John Goodman's performance, but I think the writing had a bit to do with it to. This special has a really catchy song and a really hammy villain in the form of Mr. Twitchell. The other Frosty specials don't have Mr. Frickin' Twichell. So that's a plus in this specials favor. Overall, while I'm not sure if this is an objectively better special than the original, I know I definitely enjoy it more. Sure, it's was most likely made as a cash in on the Frosty brand, but it's an enjoyable cash in! While this special probably has higher highs and lower lows that the original special, at least it's not boring. If your looking for a more well made holiday special with good animation, interesting characters, and a good holiday lesson this special is probably not for you. But if you want a weird, so bad it's good type of special that does have some legitimately good parts in it, even if the special as a whole isn't the greatest, then I highly recommend it! Check it out if you haven't seen it, and come to your own conclusion. So that's my review of "Frosty Returns." But if you think where done with Frosty the Snowman, oh how wrong you are. Join me next Friday, as I tackle the other Frosty sequel that wasn't make by Rankin-Bass, "Legend of Frosty the Snowman." Because, to quote Notorious rapper Biggie Smalls "Mo' Frosty, Mo Problems." Have you seen Frosty Returns, and what do you think of it? I'd love to hear your opinion, even if it's completely different from mine. I'd love to start a conversation. What's your favorite Frosty special, or just holiday special in general. If you have any suggestions for stuff for me to review in the future leave it in a comment down bellow, and I might look into it. Please fav, follow, and comment if you liked the review, and have a great day. (I do not own any of the images or videos in this review all credit goes to there original owners.)

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#Frosty the Snowman #Christmas #Christmas Special #review #Frosty Returns

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