I love the classic animated Christmastime TV features. I love the simple, gleeful poignancy and poetry of A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, the colorful wackiness of HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS! narrated by Boris Karloff and the Rankin/Bass characters in RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER. They bring back warm, wonderful childhood memories and they continue to make me smile in my adult years.
If you get Netflix and you have kids under the age of 12, I have some animated holiday features to recommend. You may dig them too.
If you liked the animation and loopy fun of CHICKEN RUN (2000), you -- and the kids -- will enjoy SHAUN THE SHEEP: THE FLIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS. Shaun wants a bigger stocking for Christmas. The one he has is about the size of a Munchkin's sock. His misadventures take him to the town square for a tree lighting and then into a high-tech suburban home where a little girl mistakes the sheep for new Christmas toys.
This merriment is like a silent film from the 1920s. There's audio and characters make sounds, but there's no spoken word. However, the action is very easy to follow. Here's a trailer.
Come on, now. How often do you get to see sheep in sleigh at Christmastime? You will in this 2021 feature that runs only 30 minutes.
Next is another Netflix presentation, this one spun from the popular ELF ON THE SHELF book. This one is called AN ELF'S STORY: THE ELF ON THE SHELF. Elf scouts want a promotion. They want to be embraced by family so theycan help Santa at Christmastime. One elf named Chippy has a tough task. He's found a 9-year old boy who doesn't believe in the magic of Christmas like his little twin sisters do. Chippy is on that family's shelf and he's determined to fill the boy with the spirit of Christmas. Here's a clip.
This 2011 feature is pretty traditional and has about 4 songs in its 24-minute running time.
Next is a 2020 Netflix production called ALIEN XMAS. This is a kooky, hip animated feature with characters that seemed designed to resemble the kind of animated characters we saw in the classic Rankin/Bass holiday features. You wouldn't think the story would work. But it does.
Santa finishes reading a Christmas story to his appreciative elves. Then he has another one that he describes as "a crazy Christmas story." It's about a race of space aliens on a faraway planet. These aliens were greedy. As Santa says, "All they ever felt was greed. The more they had, the more they wanted." The greedier the aliens became, the more they lost their skin color. Finally, they were so greedy that they all became white.
They looted and stole from other planets. Then they set their sights on Earth. The plan is to install a weapon on earth that would destroy the planet's gravity. Once destroyed, the aliens would take everything. The weapon would be installed on the North Pole two days before Christmas. One of the greediest aliens is assigned to set it up. However, when he gets to Christmas Town, he accidentally falls onto the conveyor belt of a toy machine. He winds up with toys....and a puppy. The puppy starts to lick away his greediness. Color returns to the alien's white skin. He sees the kindness, generosity and great holiday food of the elves.
But what about the anti-gravity weapon and the little girl who thinks the alien is a new Christmas toy? Here's a trailer.
ALIEN XMAS is a lot of fun with a running time of 42 minutes. And it was really great to see elves of color in leading roles. Merry Christmas.
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