Jack Frost

I wish to add my voice to the chorus of approval for JACK FROST. I have watched it many times, and love it each time.

Not commented on much here is the villain, Kubla Kraus. A strange, mercurial villain for a children's show--a Russian cossack with a split personality (he talks to himself via a ventriloquist dummy) while being genuinely sinister. He is voiced by the inimitable Paul Frees.

The show's finale, ending on a note of sadness, was also unusual for a children's holiday special. Rankin/Bass gave children credit for more intelligence than producers (and even some parents) do today. The only weakness is Buddy Hackett's Groundhog character; the rest is wonderfully entertaining.

Of all the fairy tales and fictional stories that are made into children's books and movies for the Christmas holidays, none would be from a more ancient source than Jack Frost. For centuries, the name has been used interchangeably with the term, Old Man Winter. "The Christmas Song" has a line, "Jack Frost snipping at your nose."

The frostiness of window panes in winter, has not always been of the light and delightful aspect of children being able to trace pictures and write on the windows. More often than not, Jack Frost is not seen as something dear or welcome. And, most films about Jack Frost, or with the name in their title, have not been pleasant or amusing stories. Most have been dark films.

But this one, the animated short story of Jack Frost made for TV, is a positive film made for the 1979 Christmas season by Rankin-Bass Productions. As with others of their animated holiday specials, "Jack Frost" is a stop-motion film made with clay figures. And, the voices are as much a part of the stories, for the prominent actors of the day who usually do the voice over for the cartoon characters.

In this story, Jack is a sprite spirit who rescues a girl from an evil king in his castle. They fall in love, and Father Winter allows Jack to become human to live with Elisa. But after she is kidnapped by the nasty Kubla Klaus, Jack has to revert to a sprite and he whips up a huge winter blizzard to freeze Klaus and his minions.

Buddy Hackett is the voice for Pardon-Me-Pete, the groundhog who narrates the story. Robert Morse is the voice of Jack Frost, and Paul Frees is the voice of Kubla Krause. Frees is a film veteran, versatile with voices, who has performed for many of these year-end holiday animated films. Debra Clinger is Elisa, and Dave Garroway and others voice more characters

Kids of all ages should continue to enjoy this holiday cartoon feature well into the future.

Among all the Rankin-Bass-Muller holiday treats, this one is an underappreciated gem. It's clearly not as well-known as several of the others, probably because it's only marginally a specifically Christmas story, is not associated with a popular Christmas carol, etc. However, in our family we like this one every bit as much as any of the others, if not more. The plot is more emotionally engrossing, the original songs are terrific, and there are some particularly appealing and fascinating characters developed. This story works successfully in different ways for different agegroups.

I watch this thing religiously no matter what time of year it is! Ask my friends..they'll roll their eyes and say, "Yes, she really does watch it ALL the time."

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Jack Frost (1979)

*** (out of 4)

Fun stop-motion animated film from the Rankin-Bass team has a groundhog telling the story of the one and only time that Jack Frost was human. We learn that Jack Frost, when he was the bitter winter, fell in love with a girl and was given permission from Father Winter to become human as long as he would be able to fit in with human life. JACK FROST is certainly another winner from the duo who by this time were already legends in their field. This film clocks in at 45-minutes but it not once feels like its running too long and this is due to the wonderful animation but story itself is also a very good one with memorable characters. I thought the Jack Frost character was truly a memorable one and especially the way he came from being nothing but winter to a human. I found the story to be fun to sit through but at the same time touching and especially the ending. What really makes the film so memorable is the actual animation that just jumps off the screen. I really loved the visuals, the colors and especially how the animation just really makes the characters and location come to life.