Sunday, December 24, 2017
Be Reel- Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
Romeo Muller's Santa Claus is Comin' to Town is a adventure, comedy- drama musical about the origins of Santa. The 1970 released stop motion film was made by a Japanese company known as Animagic. Voice acting was provided by American actors like Mickey Rooney (Santa) and Paul Frees (Winter Warlock).
The film starts with a baby being left at the doorstep of the Kringle family. A small elf family who specialize in making toys The baby has nothing expect a small metal necklace that says Claus. The Kringle family take in Santa Claus (who is renamed Chris Kringle by and family) and raise him as one of their own. Through his development he learns how to make toys, laugh and slide like a seal, and jump like a deer. The Kringle family expresses to Chris that they have no children to give their toys to, Chris promises he will bring toys to Somber town when he is old enough. Somber Town (rightfully named so) is a gray town run by Burgermister Misterburger, a toy hating dictator who bans toys and happiness. Unaware of the laws a now adult Chris enters the town and gives toys to all it's children. The toys are taken from the children and burned. Each time he enters the town he is chased by guards, but uses the skills (jumping and sliding) to escape his rightful jail time. Chris continues to deliver toys and through his travels meets and befriends the Winter Warlock, and Victoria, a school teacher and future Mrs. Claus. Winter Warlock teaches Chris magic and controls snow, and Victoria brings Chris letters from her students (Christmas lists). As years continue Chris gets more crafty with his toy deliveries, he leaves toys in stockings, enters through chimneys, only delivers toys at night, and so on. Chris eventually has the change his name to Santa Claus, grow out a beard, and gain weight in order to go unrecognized by Burgermister Misterburger. The film ends with the death of Burgermister Misterburger and the celebration of Santa Claus through Somber Town.
The film has a run time of 50 minutes, and has been aired yearly on ABC Family /Freeform since it's release. The quality of the film is questionable. The animation is very choppy, but the voice acting is excellent. As for the aging of the film, it has aged alright aside from one certain scene. A scene in which Santa demands a kiss from every child is exchange for a toy, even telling a small girl who does not want to kiss him to "not be stingy". He explains to the kids that if they expect to receive something the should also expect to repay the gifter. I am positive the movie is not trying to portray Santa as a pedophile, it can unfortunately come across that way. It turns out several scenes from the original film have been cut out by ABC like the scenes of Santa jumping on buildings, to avoid children from attempting similar stunts, and the scene of Burgermister Misterburger burning toys. To avoiding upsetting children. The scene of Santa forcing children to kiss him is not essential and is the only scene holding this movie back from being a classic.
Putting that scene aside (because it should be removed by now) I would give the movie a bad good rating. It movie is poorly made, but a simple look into the comments of the movie posted on YouTube showed that I am not the only viewer of this film who looks back on it with pure nostalgia and great memories.
Here is the full movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVAc0FJdYoA
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