Unlikely holiday pleasers
by Carrie Dodson / staff writer
For this year's holiday movie round up, instead of highlighting
the best of the best in the holiday film category, I decided to
pay homage to a few of the lesserknown but equally festive holiday
classics. Everyone knows about Rudolph, the Grinch and Jimmy Stewart,
but what about their less-glamorous cousins Frosty, Ernest P. Worrel
and Emmett Otter? Here they are, in no particular order, the top
five unexpected holiday favorites:
"A Christmas Toy" (1987)
A product of Jim Henson's fantastic world of muppetry, this
Christmas favorite from childhood features the secret lives of toys
on Christmas Eve (a la "Toy Story"). Last year's
present was a stuffed tiger named Rugby and little does he know,
he is about to be replaced by the very scary plastic space queen
toy Meteora. There are miniature car chases around the house, close
calls every time a human enters their secret world and dangerous
encounters with the family cat. Best of all, Kermit is the film's
narrator.
"Ernest Saves Christmas" (1988)
As every serious film critic knows, no list is complete without
an Ernest movie in the mix, especially this Christmas gem from the
mind of Jim Varney. Wow — where does one start to describe
this flick? Ernest helps Santa find a successor in time to make
his annual deliveries, but not without a few snags and gags along
the way. There's nothing like an Ernest classic to bring college
students back to their youth.
"Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas" (1977)
Maybe it's unfair to devote two slots on the list to Jim Henson
and his muppets, but this film is comedy gold. As far as villains
go, the deadly Riverbottom Gang takes the cake as their rock band
rivals Emmet's Jugband in the town talent show to win $50.
Words cannot describe the oddity that is Otter's Christmas
world. The characters are like no other muppet movie (there are
snakes, otters, foxes and weasels — animals that should never
mix), but the muppet message of love and hope for all shines through
in the end.
"Frosty the Snowman" (1969)
Based on the popular Christmas tune, this short film (only 22 minutes
long) wanted to be like the famed Rudolph movie, but it lacks the
same fur-mation quality and opts for 2-D line drawings instead.
None-theless, it is a Christmas classic brilliantly narrated by
Jimmy Durante. This often-forgotten classic is definitely worth
a gander this holiday season, if only for the weird white rabbit
always hopping about who escaped Alice's adventures for a romp
with Frosty.
"The Nightmare Before Christmas" (1993)
Is this technically a holiday movie? I'm not sure, but this
Tim Burton cult fave is worth a watch (who else puts to-gether Christmas
and Halloween?). The technical accomplishment gives the film its
power as a multi-holiday classic. Ghoulish and heartwarming, "Nightmare"
is a great holiday movie to watch to rinse the "It's a
Wonderful Life" taste out.
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