25 Days of Christmas Movies: Rankin Bass Movies!

So I don’t know if I have all the Rankin Bass movies to watch- I know they have a lot I’ve never really seen or heard of… so I’m just going to do the ones I kind of grew up with- and the ones I can find/ watch.

Santa Clause is Coming to Town

They just showed this on ABC last night- but I also think I own this one somewhere. This is the one with the origin story of Santa that shows everything about him. I liked how this answers the questions of how Santa started. It doesn’t really show the North Pole or Santa’s workshop the way a lot of Santa stories do… but this is just as magical without really showing Santa being magical. Santa’s just a normal guy in this one that gets powers but it really doesn’t show them.

I like the songs in this one a lot, my one main problem with some of these rankin bass specials is that the songs aren’t really that Christmasy- which this one really doesn’t have many Christmas songs.

Frosty The Snowman

I don’t really like Frosty The Snowman. I like the song but the movie is just a little weird for me. I think Frosty is cute and I like the characters- but the story is a little weird for me… and my mind was not changed this watch. It’s got cute and fun characters but it’s just not my favorite.

Also the voice of Frosty The Snowman had 3 secret families… so that’s a fun Christmas fact too.

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer

Okay- this one is obviously the best and the most iconic. Usually I watch this early in the season because it usually airs right after Thanksgiving- but i missed it this year and I couldn’t find my dvd copy of it- which i do have somewhere. Anyway this one is very funny and has some of my favorite Christmas Characters and my favorite Christmas songs. I love Yukon Cornelius and Hermy the Elf… and of course Rudolph and the island of misfit toys and the Bumble. Plus it reminds me of my dog Spencer who always barked at the screen whenever Rudolph jumps up and down because Clarice calls him cute… i just love this movie. This is one of the best!

The Year Without A Santa Clause

This one is really fun. I like Heat Miser and Snow Miser a lot obviously- but I also really like the plot of this movie because it’s kind of complicated. Santa wants a year off because he’s sick- but in order to do that- 2 of santa’s elves go to a place called South Town to try to convince everyone that Santa deserves a day off and the mayor will only do that- and free Vixen who’s been captured by Dog Nappers- if they make it snow in South Town… and they can only do that by talking to the Miser Brothers, Heat Miser who controls the heat and Snow Miser who controls the cold… and Heat Miser only agrees to let it snow in the south if he can make it hot in the North Pole for a day… so these elves do a lot to get Santa a day off… and in the end- he doesn’t take the day off.

The songs in this one are very memorable- especially the Heat Miser and Snow Miser songs… but my underrated pick from this movie is definitely Mrs. Santa Claus’s song “ I could be Santa Clause” where she dresses as Santa and wants to deliver the presents so Santa doesn’t have to.

I also love that this is narrated by Mrs. Clause- the Mrs. Clause in this movie is a top tier Christmas Character in my opinion… I really like her.

So there’s a lot more Rankin Bass Movies- the only other 2 I really ever watched as a kid that I didn’t mention in this post were The Little Drummer Boy and Nester, The Long Eared Donkey. I really liked both of those movies- Nester was one of my sister’s favorites growing up… i just didn’t really have the time to watch those ones.

Bye!

-Shannon