The Story of Santa Claus

This is a few steps above your average holiday special, and CBS has been running it seasonally for several years. The voices (Ed Asner, Betty White and Tim Curry) are all terrific, and special note should be paid to Toby Bluth's wonderful direction. Its charm recalls the classic holiday specials ("Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer", "Frosty the Snowman", etc.), and the story is entertaining for adults and children alike. Songs are catchy and well-done without being maudlin, and the Busby Berkely-like musical numbers are fun to see. Watch it this year and prepare to shed a tear or two.

I watched this now for the first time being way past the age of its target audience. Heck -- I was over thirty when it was made! I wanted to get a little "Christmas Spirit," so I thought this might be the ticket. Or at least I was hoping for a campy and lively time, which wasn't really what I experienced.

Perhaps because it was made for an hour time slot, the proceedings here seem way too padded and overpopulated. Too many subplots -- not enough Santa! We're presented with elves of various stripes, and I guess their father who is a magician apparently. After rescuing one tiny elf from falling through the ice at the North Pole, the elves and their magician Dad grant Santa one wish. They're not too pleased when Santa, accompanied by Mrs Gretchen Claus, wishes for the ability to deliver a toy to every child in the world on Christmas. The plot then relates the efforts of the elves to satisfy Santa's wish. Some pretty dull mayhem ensues.

Don't expect any sparks from the voice performances here of Ed Asner or Betty White. They certainly failed to make any of this contrived story involving, and their voices seem distant and vague. And the flatness of the animation seems like almost something from the Paleolithic Age. And too, some of the characters looks suspiciously familiar, like the little elf who looks almost exactly like Disney's "Dopey." Other characters like the little soldier elves seemed lifted from something else.

Hate to be a Grinch or a Scrooge, but...

* out of *****

Toymaker Nicholas "Santa" Claus and his wife Gretchen are being evicted by their greedy landlord Mr. Minch after a lifetime of giving away his toys. Homeless and penniless, they decide to give away their remaining toys to an island orphanage. They are trying to sail to the island when a storm shipwrecks their boat at the North Pole. They find elves and wizard Nostros.

The animation is old fashion hand-drawn style. The story is fine for the first half. I am glad that it ends with the poor boatman getting a new boat. Santa did not forget about him. All in all, it's better than most of the non-classic Christmas specials. Those can get really bad.

Here is another version of the story of Santa Claus but this version lacks any charm or imagination.

The animation here is cheap. The voice talent however is fine.

The story opens in "Europe, a long time ago". Nicholas Claus, nicknamed "Santa" by his wife Gretchen, is a toymaker who wishes he could give a toy to every child in the world. It's explained that Nicholas grew up in the Angel's Island Orphanage, where he taught himself to make toys for the other children. However, Nicholas is now in debt because he gives away more toys than he sells. The Clauses are subsequently evicted by their greedy landlord, Mr. Minch.

Now penniless, Nicholas and Gretchen decide to take their remaining toys to the children at the Angel's Island Orphanage. However, their ship is caught up in a storm and they are miraculously transported to the North Pole. There they meet the elves, including wizardly elf Nostros, his son Clement, and the know-it-all elf girl Aurora. When Nicholas saves Clement's life, Nostros is forced to grant him a wish. Nicholas wishes that he could deliver toys to all the children in the world on Christmas. Nostros declares that this is impossible and trying to fulfill it will doom the elves by destroying their magic. However, the wish can't be taken back because it is now "etched among the stars".

Nicholas and Gretchen manage to recruit almost all the elves to help them. Soon they have built a toy factory and gotten to work. Nostros watches form afar, scoffing at their attempt to do the impossible and forbidding Clement from involving himself. Clement sneaks out to help anyway. On the big day, Aurora realizes Nicholas will have to be accompanied by a magical expert on his trip. She goes to Nostros, but he refuses, of course. After thinking about it for a while, he changes his mind and goes to the toy factory to help Nicholas.

As their voyage around the world ends, Nicholas insists they make a stop at the Angel's Island Orphanage. He gives a young boy a knife so that he may whittle toys for the others as Nicholas once did. Once they return to the North Pole, Nostros and the other elves vote to bestow "honorary elfhood" upon the Clauses, making them immortal. Nicholas declares that they shall do this again every year forever and the elves cheer.

A better film is "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". It has better songs and told with more heart!

The Story of Santa Claus was one of those childhood favourites that I forgot about until fairly recently. And it is one of those that I am glad I saw again, as there is a lot to like about it. Maybe it is a little too padded pacing-wise, however that was all that struck me as something that wasn't quite so good. The animation is appealingly coloured and simple in design, the fact that it has the look and feel of both Rankin/Bass and GoodTimes adds to the charm. The animation in the musical numbers is never too flashy but has a good deal of energy. The music score has plenty of fanciful whimsy, and while there are more memorable songs out there in my mind the four songs featured were sweet and appropriate for the story. The writing is a pleasing mixture of droll humour and affecting(but thankfully not overly-maudlin) sentiment, while the story is both charming and heart-warming. To see an interpretation on how Santa Claus came to be was very interesting. The characters are very engaging, I loved how Santa and his wife were kindly and hard-working and the elves are cute and lively. I even found myself relating to Nostros, I know he is like the Scrooge of the story in some way but his job and how he is with abiding to the rules so much so that he neglects his son is an angle that any adult watching would identify with. I've seen this many times, in film/TV and in real-life, and thought it was nicely done here. The voice acting is terrific, Ed Asner and Betty White fit their roles like gloves, and Jim Cummings does a nice job with Santa's singing voice. Tim Curry also stood out, voicing Nostros with cantankerous authority. All in all, a Christmas charmer. 9/10 Bethany Cox