While I am not very fond of some of UAV Entertainment's output, with Young Pocahontas and The Secret of the Hunchback being particularly not very good at all, Christmas in Cartoontown is one of their better offerings. It's not great, but there's little here that came over as horrendously bad or painful.
Its weakest asset is the animation, which has never been a strong suit in any of UAV's animations (the contrary actually), and while it is more colourful (some nice vibrant colours here especially when the children and Irv meet the fairy tale characters) and detailed than most it is more like low budget animation you'd see from the mid-late-80s than from the late-90s with most of the characters being drawn very roughly and having very stiff movements and some parts being overly-bright and hasty-looking. Some of the script is on the corny side, with Pinocchio's meant-to-be-funny dialogue enough to make one lose a couple of brain cells in disbelief at how embarrassingly juvenile and dumbed down it is, and the more 'fourth wall' stuff being unnecessary and more interrupting the flow of the story than adding anything. While I did like the story on the whole, it was a little thin in structure, could have explained parts a little better and there is the occasional mixture of parts that feel stretched (some of the middle) or rushed (the rather too convenient climax).
The soundtrack is very winning though, it's whimsical and catchy but also atmospheric and emotion-filled. Along with The Secret of Anastasia it is easily one of the better and more memorable soundtracks of UAV Entertainment's output. A lot of the dialogue is hilarious, and the story is one of UAV's more original and imaginative with a deft mix of fairy tale characters, a lot of fun, charming moments and a well-intended message about the meaning of Christmas that brings some poignancy to the story, which stops the tale from being mean-spirited. The characters are charming and have engaging personalities, with the exception of the slightly forgettable villain, all of them (even the very talkative main boy character) are much better written than Goofinoff (The Secret of Anastasia), The Medicine Man (Young Pocahontas), a lot of the secondary characters from The Secret of the Hunchback and especially Falina (The Amazing Feats of Young Hercules) who are all examples of annoying characters. Irv, Santa and the fairy tale characters are very memorable, and the children are appealing. The voice acting is very well done, some of the better and enthusiastic voice acting to come out of UAV Entertainment's animation.
In conclusion, not perfect or great but as far as UAV Entertainment's animations go Christmas in Cartoontown is one of their better ones. 6.5/10 Bethany Cox
