Christmas Special Review #3: "A Dennis the Menace Christmas"

Let me go into this one saying that I was very skeptical of if this movie would even be any good or not, since I know how spinoffs often go. But this one, thankfully, isn't so bad. Dennis is still tormenting Mr. Wilson, as always. But as usual, his heart is in the right place. All he wants to do is bring the holiday spirit to Mr. Wilson, especially since he got assigned to him for a Secret Santa project. (And who could stay mad at that cute little face? The actor playing Dennis is adorable!)

The movie goes on to take on an A Christmas Carol turn with the whole Christmas past, present and future. Except this time, it shows Mr. Wilson as a child (who acted EXACTLY like Dennis), present, and future.....which shows how bad off Dennis's parents will be if Mr. Wilson forces them to pay for all the damages Dennis has incurred. Also, what will happen to Dennis.

So, the ending is fairly predictable....yet, at the same time, it's a major tear-jerker. (Either that, or I'm more of a sap than I thought.) Especially given that this is a sequel spin-off, I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was. Not perfect, but pretty good. 4 out of 5 stars.

Christmas Special Review #2: "Richie Rich's Christmas Wish"

For this second review, I have to admit that I was a bit taken aback that this one even exists. I mean, Richie Rich has never exactly been that popular of a character, has he? Whose idea was it to make a Christmas special revolving around him? Oh well, I digress.

The first thing that struck me about this special (and I know that I'm biased here in my observation, so pardon me) is that it almost feels like a cross-bred hybrid of Arthur and Eloise. The over-indulged, spoiled rich kid thing seems to run in the veins of both those films, so it's no wonder I made such a comparison. Add into the fact that Richie has an old English butler, and it definitely throws even more Arthur into the mix. Anyway...

I was expecting to take major issue with this one in assuming that there would be far too much emphasis placed on money (and its importance) to where the true reason for Christmas gets lost in the mix. This was not the case. But, the main plot in this film is that Richie has his own personal mad scientist who's invented a wish-granting machine. Feeling a bit despondant and depressed that given day, Richie wishes that he'd never been born. The world without Richie is a far different place.... and one thing I took issue with is that evidently, Richie is the only reason his parents stayed together in the regular world, as in this alternate universe, all his parents do is bicker like cats and dogs about every little thing and don't even seem to like each other and are constantly on the verge of a break up, so it seems. Which begs the question - did they only marry because of a surprise baby, perhaps? Who knows.

But unlike in many of these Christmas specials that do the whole It's A Wonderful Life thing, Richie's not dead, nor is he ghost-like. He can interact with people and things just fine. Just...nobody knows who the hell he is. This struck me as a bit weird, since if he'd never been born, then how is he existing? But then again, I suppose if they'd just poofed him entirely out of existence, there'd be no film, so there ya go. There's a lot of odd twists and turns, like if Richie hadn't been born, apparently his butler would've been in a hair metal band called Root Canal... (yeah, I don't know either.)

The film is another one that ends on a Gift of the Magi note. (Seems to be a common theme that runs throughout these, doesn't it?) Overall, it's not a horrible film, but it's a very easily forgettable one. 3 out of 5 stars for this one.

Christmas Special Review #1: "Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas"

For many people, Disney and Christmas go hand in hand just as much as Rankin and Bass. (For you youngsters who don't get that part, Rankin and Bass are the company that gave you such specials as Rudolph.) There were always Disney Christmas specials on around the house when I was growing up, so I was excited to find out that new ones are evidently still being made. One such special being Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas.

I wasn't sure if it was going to be one long movie, or a compilation of the old Christmas cartoons they've done over the years, but it was neither of those. It was broken down into three short stories. Kelsey Grahmer (read as: Fraiser) narrates this baby in a beautifully poetic way. Likewise, the animation style is also very lovely, and even a little reminiscent of the animation techniques of old. (This is something I find myself yearning more and more for as an adult, now that I'm in a world populated by Pixar kids movies.) It also seems to try and channel the humor style of the old-school Disney cartoons... but on this front, it does tend to fall a little short of the mark and comes off as a bit unnecessarily hyperactive. But, all throughout, there's many subtle nods towards the old-school Disney Christmas cartoons, especially in the first short. They've got everything from Chip and Dale on their little Christmas train inside their tree, to Huey, Dewey and Louis all being obsessed with sledding, and even a brief nod to that old short where Donald ends up in a snowbank, looking like a snowman. The younger kids who haven't seen the old cartoons don't even get these, but for the grownups who grew up with them, it does leave a sense of warm fuzzies, which I figure is exactly why Disney threw them in (as it's Disney's forte).

The first cartoon is a take on the sort of cliched plot of "I wish every day were Christmas". It had been such a wonderful day that Donald's nephews wished every day to be Christmas... and the Christmas star granted them their wish. Which, just like in every other cartoon that's ever used this plot, starts out great for them, but they quickly grow sick of it and just want to regain their normal lives. There's bits of this one that even left me uncomfortable as an adult watching this, so I can only imagine what it must be like through the eyes of a child.

The second cartoon is a Goofy and Max one. It confused me at first, because I thought they'd inexplicably aged Max down, but then when I found out the plot for this one....yeah, I can see where they'd kind of have to, because it would've been a little weird to have a teenager going through the "Santa's not real?" plot. But of course, since this is one for the kiddies, Santa wins out in the end and is real. I'm not going to lie though, this one made me cry as soon as Goofy says his Christmas wish every year is the same thing, and he always gets it. Max asks what's that? And Goofy says, "Your happiness." (Oh jeez...I'm tearing up again just remembering it.)

The third (and last) cartoon in the special is a Mickey and Minnie one (finally! I had been wondering where, or if, Mickey would show up, seeing as the name of the special is MICKEY'S Once Upon A Christmas, after all...) and is basically another take on Gift of the Magi. As you can imagine, this one is heart-wrenching to watch. I found myself asking though, how on earth are we supposed to believe that Mickey and Minnie are that poor? They're the stars of Disney, and yet they're living like paupers while Goofy and Donald are well off to do? Is that how poor this economy has become, where we've come to not even question why Mickey and Minnie are living almost like hobos? That.....seems wrong. I don't know. Random observations. Anyway, as if it weren't hard enough to watch on its own, the tree-lot burning scene is downright traumatizing to watch, I don't care how old you are. But, it's still very sweet at the end, and more tears were shed.

Overall, for a modern Christmas special, this one's actually not too bad. I wouldn't sit super young kids through it....maybe start around 6 or 7 and up. It's likely to scare kids at parts who're younger than that. But apart from that, I'll rate this one 4 out of 5 stars.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

It's the holiday season, and along with the endless decorating, baking, traveling, and shopping that comes along with it, also comes along a much simpler, almost guilty pleasure of mine... Christmas specials! In a bid to bring more readers to my blog, I figured I'll review as many Christmas specials as possible. Some are ones I've seen a million times over; other ones I'm seeing for the very first time on TV this year. Why, you ask? Eh.... too much time on my hands, why else? ;) Still though, read and watch along!