Out of all the Christmas movies I've seen, this one is arguably the worst one of all. I'm serious. This is the very bottom of the barrel, and that's saying something given all the crappy movies I've watched.
The story is boring and unoriginal. How many Christmas stories involve orphans? Or a nasty Scrooge like character? (ie. Mrs. Mavilda) There might have been some potential concerning the titular Pine Tree, Mrs. Hopewell, but it was all squandered and "she" hardly even appears in the story. Instead, the plot focused more on Judy and her relationship with the orphans. But even then, the acting and dialogue is so wooden, it falls flat.
No doubt thanks to a shoddy budget, the animation is terrible and looks maybe twenty years out of date by 1991 standards. The best animation is limited to the title card, opening scene, and Santa Claus's clothes granting magic at the end. The colors are faded and ruddy, completely lacking any of the bright Christmas atmosphere you might expect. All the characters' movements are static and choppy looking. 90% of the time, only their eyes and mouths move as they stand and talk, and even then, the lip sync is off by miles. All the character models have dead, heavily lidded gazes like they're half-asleep. Sometimes, they looked outright creepy, like when the orphans collectively smile at Pappy and Lily like the Children of the Corn, or Mavilda's craggy, snarling face when she threatens to chop down Mrs. Hopewell.
With the exception of Dingo Pictures, the voice acting here is the most ridiculously bad I've ever heard. The "voice actors" were all obviously family members of the cast and crew who all sound like they want nothing to do with this mess. Judy and Ray spoke in monotones as if they were hopped up on something, even when they believe their daughter is dead. The mayor's voice frequently cracked. Only Mavilda does an enjoyable job with her hamminess, but even then, her screaming broke the mic once. The kids were the worst. The orphan with glasses is obviously voiced by a grown woman, Lily's voice actress was so young, she spoke in unintelligible baby-talk half the time, and one orphan had an adults voice pitched up so much, he sounds nothing like a kid.
The music was very cheesy, mostly consisting of simple electronic keyboard tunes that a middle-schooler could have made. The editing was choppy, especially with the dialogue as it cuts from one line to another with no pause between them. The dialogue is all broken and awkward sound. Even the moral at the end 'You always win when you're good' was just poor and basically says, 'being good excuses you of wrongdoing', in this case, Mrs. Mavilda, who should have been imprisoned for her actions. It's all so ridiculous, it's facepalm inducing.
This film was just a God-awful, 45-minute disaster that failed to deliver any meaningful message of Christmas spirit. Even today, thirty-three years later, it's reviled as arguably the worst Christmas special ever made. Say what you want about "Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa", but at least that film had good voice talent on board. But even so, the only reason to ever watch this is to laugh at how ridiculously bad it is, so watch it for free on Tubi if you're looking for a cheap chuckle.
