[CHRISTMAS SPECIAL] Movie Review: "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" · 2:23am Dec 20th, 2019
What's this? A new Movie Review from me after...(checks to see when my last movie review actually was) five months, three if you count my re-review of Godzilla: King of the Monsters? I know, right? Long time. Well, seeing how it is the Christmas season, I wanted to at least one Christmas-related review for you.
And what better piece of cinema to review than an old favorite of yours truly? This is Rankin-Bass's 1970 film...
Plot:
The snowmobile/mail truck of Special Delivery "S.D." Kluger (voiced by Fred Astaire) breaks down as he is on his way to deliver letters to Santa from all the children of the world. As he sets about to repair his truck, he addresses the audience, deciding to answer the children's many questions about Santa's origin story to pass the time.
The tale begins many years ago in a place called Sombertown, a gloomy city ruled by the ill-tempered and dictatorial Burgermeister Meisterburger (voiced by Paul Frees). His second-in-command Grimsley (also voiced by Frees) discovers a baby abandoned on Meisterburger's front door, bearing no identification other than a name tag reading "Claus". Meisterburger, being the grade-A jerkwad that he is, wants no such thing, and orders Grimsley to take the baby to the "Orphan Asylum". On the way, however, a strong wind from a snowstorm blows the baby away from Grimsley and up into the Mountain of the Whispering Winds, ruled by the terrifying, ice-magic wielding Winter Warlock (voiced by Keenan Wynn). Luckily, local animals manage to find the infant before the Warlock can, and take the baby away from the mountain to Rainbow River Valley, where they leave him in the care of a family of little elves named the Kringles, led by their queen Tanta Kringle (voiced by Joan Gardner). The Kringles quickly take a liking to the baby, immediately adopting him and naming him Kris.
As young Kris grows older, the Kringles teach them everything they know, including making toys, an art that the Kringles are experts at. Unfortunately for them, they are unable to get their toys to the wider world due to the presence of the Warlock. Kris expresses a desire to make an effort when he's old enough, and the Kringles are excited by this, hoping to recapture their former glory as "The First Toymakers to the King" ("The First Toymakers to the King")
Eventually, Kris (now voiced by Mickey Rooney) grows up and decides to make good on his promise, but not before Tanta Kringle gives him a bright-red "Kringle suit" as a parting gift–the same red outfit that we've all come to recognize. Kris manages to make it past the Mountain of the Whispering Winds, even making friends with a lost penguin named Topper along the way.
But his timing could not have been worse; at around the same time, Meisterburger trips on a toy duck accidentally left outside Sombertown city hall, leaving his leg in a cast. Infuriated and with a wounded pride, Meisterburger orders Grimsley to initiate a city-wide ban on toys ("No More Toymakers to the King"). It is just after all of the poor children's toys are confiscated that Kris makes his grand debut, liberally handing out toys to the fun-deprived children, and even winning the friendship of local school-teacher Miss Jessica ("If You Sit On My Lap Today").
Unfortunately, the Burgermeister soon catches on, and after an attempt by Kris to soften his heart with a yo-yo goes sideways, he and Topper are forced to flee. But it's an out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire situation, as they stumble right into the clutches of the Winter Warlock. But Kris manages to–figuratively and literally–melt the Warlock's icy heart by giving him a toy train as a present. Although touched by this act of kindness, the Warlock expresses doubt that he can really reform, but Kris reassures him that changing from bad to good is like "talking your first steps" ("Put One Foot in Front of the Other").
The Warlock, now calling himself simply "Winter", offers to help Kris and the Kringles in their toy-delivering endeavors, showing him how to make a "Crystal Snowball" that can see anywhere in the world–which will eventually allow the future Santa to see who's been naughty or nice. Using the Snowball, Kris finds Jessica coming to deliver him letter from the children requesting more toys, as the Meisterburger has destroyed the initial wave that he brought.
What follows is a series of back-and-froths between Kris and the Meisterburger and his forces that eventually set up his future gift-delivering habits. The Meisterburger posts guards around Sombertown's borders; Kris sneaks in at night. An edict is made to lock all doors at night; Kris simply comes down through the chimneys. Guards start searching around mantlepieces and fireplaces before dawn; Kris starts leaving presents in stockings. All the while, Kris continues to endear himself to the children of Sombertown, and the Kringles continue to make toys for them. All seems to be going well.
That is, until the Meisterburger decides to get smart and lay a trap for Kris. Jessica overhears him, and rushes to the Kringle's hideout to try and warn them, only to discover that he has already left for his nightly rounds. Furthermore, since his reformation, Winter's powers have been on the fritz, so he's out as an option. Eventually, the Sombertown Guard, led by Grimsley, finds and arrests the Kringle family and Winter, while the Meisterburger apprehends Kris back in Sombertown.
Jessica pleads for the Kringle's behalf, but the Meisterburger refuses. Fed up with Sombertown's oppressive environment, Jessica decides to do something herself, at the same time realizing she has fallen in love with Kris ("My World is Beginning Today"). She manages to locate Winter, but his powers are still diminished, with the only thing that may be of help being some left-over "magic feed corn" that can apparently make animals fly. Armed with this, Jessica tracks down some of Kris's old reindeer friends and gives them the corn, granting them the power of flight, which they use to free the Kringles and Winter.
Despite this victory, the Meisterburger (and his entire family, apparently) decides to up his efforts to track down and stop Kris once and for all, prompting Kris, the Kringles, Winter, and Jessica to continue further North. Kris begins to grow a beard to disguise his face, and re-adopts his birth-name Claus. Shortly after this latter decision, Kris and Jessica decide to marry each other, with a makeshift ceremony in the woods taking place on Christmas Eve, during which Winter uses the last of his magic to make the surrounding pine trees glow–the first Christmas trees. ("What Better Way To Tell You")
Eventually, the little band makes it's way to the North Pole, far out of reach of the Meisterburger or anyone else trying to find them. It is here that they build Santa's castle and workshop, and begin shifting their operations to a global scale. To keep the stress of the job down, Kris decides to limit his gift-giving trips to just one night a year, settling on Christmas Eve. As the years pass, the Meisterburger and his lineage dies off and falls out of power, and all of his oppressive laws are overturned and forgotten. Meanwhile, Kris–now called Santa Claus–has firmly settled into his new role in life, delivering gifts to the children of the world with the support of Mrs. Claus, the Kringle elves, and Winter, who has since regained his magic powers.
As Kluger finishes his story, he explains that although Santa is now longer considered an outlaw, some people do not believe in him, finding him and what he stands for to be outlandish due to the suffering of the world. Kluger explains that they have missed the point; yes, there is great suffering i the world, but doesn't an act of kindness help to alleviate all of that? If perhaps we could learn to follow in Santa's footsteps, "perhaps there really would be peace on Earth, goodwill towards men".
With the story finished, Kluger resumes his mail delivery to the North Pole, joined by Topper, Winter, and the Kringle family in a final rendition of "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town".
Boy, what a classic! I used to watch this all the time when I was little, even when it wasn't Christmas-time.
This story is magical. That's all I can really say. Yeah, it doesn't follow the real historical circumstances that led to the creation of the Santa Claus character, but it still does a great job at crafting an origin story for him.
Kris is a rather simple protagonist; his sole goal in life is to make others happy, and that's about it. But it's that unashamed kind-heartedness that really makes him likable. You can't help but smile at just how good the man is. Even when confronted with a terrifying adversary, such as the Meisterburger or the Winter Warlock, Kris still doesn't falter in his kindness and generosity towards others, whether it works or not. Not one time in the movie does he doubt his principles or ideals.
The supporting cast is great too. Meisterburger starts off as a rather funny and hammy villain, but actually gets more menacing as the tale goes on, especially when he finally gets the drop on Kris at the end of the second act. Winter is pretty scary in his initial appearance too, but it is legitimately heartwarming (no pun intended) seeing the guy soften up upon receiving something so seemingly-mundane as a toy train. He spends the rest of the special as a giddy man-child who now realizes that, in his own words, he's "not such a loser after all".
The musical numbers are wonderful as well, although the only one I don't really care for is Jessica's "My World is Beginning Today", mostly because of the strange, psychedelic visuals that play over it. It was the 70s, after all. Even as a kid, that on always made me dizzy.
And even though it's not quite the best, the stop-motion used to animated it is really well-done, and I've always had a serious level of respect for the people who animate that sort of thing.
And as I rewatched the movie with my family the other day, the message Santa's true meaning somehow became a lot more poignant to me. There will come a time where parents can no longer plausibly tell the story of Santa as a well-meant lie. It's already tough to do so now, what with advanced heating overtaking old-style fire-places and the greater presence of online shopping and advertising and all of that. But perhaps it's the ideal of Santa that we should be telling our children; that the world may be dark and full of cruel things and people, but a righteous heart and an act of kindness can help pierce through that darkness. Even if it's only a little, things like that matter. And that's a lesson that I think we all should take to heart.
For me and my family, this is a Christmas classic. If you haven't checked it out, I highly encourage you to do so.
5/5. Happy Holidays, and Merry Christmas.
I haven't seen this one. I really should.
You should watch Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.
5172176
Indeed you should.
I have heard...interesting things about that one.
I grew up with this special as well, and I watched it every time it came on TV.
Now that I’ve grown, though...I can’t help but feel saddened by how much I’ve grown out of the story. It’s a classic, although I liked it more when I was younger more than older.
5172359
Fun Fact: Years ago, I actually started writing a fanfic where the Meisterburger has a change of heart upon receiving the yo-yo, realizing how silly that law is and what a jerk he's become.
5172379
Sounds interesting.
Nice review. It's been years since I saw this one but I remember enjoying it.
I did my own Christmas review last year of a hypothetical Santa Claus origin... a comic-book titled Klaus. (Predating the Netflix animated movie of course XD)