Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie

I have to say, this was good. Not great or excellent, but average-good. Nothing will ever beat the original 1964 Rudolph, but this remake almost did. This remake took everything from the original, and tried to twist into the 90's version of Rudolph. The plot was great, the whole story had a goal to achieve, you knew what the characters were trying to accomplish, everything just had a good purpose that gave this remake a solid flow to it. The songs were amazing. You won't remember them like the one's from the 1964 Rudolph, but the songs used in this remake are just as unforgettable in my opinion. Every other scene has you wondering were the story will take you next, and the climax toward the end will actually give you that feeling whether it's gonna be a happy or bad ending. Overall, this is absolutely worth seeing, and a great remake to the classic 1964 Rudolph.

Of course it isn't my all time favourite Christmas movie and it isn't as good as the timeless Rankin'/Bass special, but all the same it is very sweet, charming and simple. I for one am disheartened at the 4.8 rating, it is much better than that, of course it isn't perfect, but it is far from the worst animated movie ever. The animation is not too bad, a tad shoddy in places, but fifteen minutes in, the quality got better. I didn't think the songs were awful at all, honestly the songs in Secret Of NIMH 2: Timmy To The Rescue were much worse. In my opinion, they were actually quite cute. One or two of them are forgettable especially the song sung by the elves before Stormella is introduced, but I Hate Santa Claus and Zoey and Rudolph's duet were lovely, and who can resist festive classics like Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer and Wonderful Christmas time. I will admit I was annoyed by the sprites, there were a couple of moments where their presence was pointless. The movie also has some nice messaging, I really did feel for Rudolph(I know exactly what it's like to get bullied because of your nose, I used to get bullied because of my singing voice), a good story, if a little slow to start with and some fairly good dialogue. The real delight is in the very lovable characters and highly talented voice cast. Rudolph and Zoey are adorable, and John Goodman makes a suitably merry Santa Claus. Eric Idle and Bob Newhart positively delight as Slyly and Leonard, and despite her limited screen time, Whoopi Goldberg is very impressive as the villainous Stormella. Overall, a very sweet, simple and underrated Christmas movie. 7/10 Bethany Cox

An instant Christmas classic! Great cast (voices) and decent animation make this a family classic for any Christmas occasion. Considering the fact that this film isn't Disney, it belongs in the category of excellent animated films. On a Friday afternoon of September 1998, I came across "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer : The Movie" opening today in limited release. Fortunately my movie theater was playing it and with a cast including Whoopi Goldberg, Bob Newhart, Sarah Jessica Parker, Debbie Reynolds, & John Goodman, I couldn't resist. Why Legacy Releasing opened a Christmas movie in the fall I'll never know, but if you haven't seen it with your kids, get it this Christmas season. Soundtrack includes a special musical performance of "A Wonderful Christmas Time" by Paul and Linda McCartney. Now on video from Goodtimes Entertainment.

This is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. This is not the Rankin-Bass version by any stretch of the imagination. That was a stop-motion short that is now considered a Christmas classic. Rudolph: THE MOVIE is no where near that special. The entire package, from the animation to the characters, should never have been released in theaters. That's right, this thing was on the big screen for, like, a whopping three weeks b4 going straight to video. As I said before, the animation would be right at home on UPN's Saturday Morning Lineup right next to the New Tex Avery Show. It's not The Prince of Egypt, let's just say that. Also, what is with the army of wacky side kicks? We get a polar bear voiced by Bob Newhart (Bob, what happened?), a thumb-sucking Arctic wolf, some kareoke singing faeries who painfully narrate the story, and a penguin who wears a tuxedo (Ha! My sides!). At the very, very least they added a new element to the old legend of Rudolph with the ice queen, who is voiced by Whoopi Goldberg, but even she isn't that interesting. Plus, it's a musical. And a bad one, at that. Listening to two different people do Rudolph's speaking voice and singing vocals is hilarious, since Singing Ru is about eight octaves deeper than Speaking Ru. So basically, stay away. This is one tiresome flick. 1 out of 4 stars.

I originally reviewed this movie when I was about 14 or 15, And lets just say I didn't really give it a fair try. So after actually watching it nearly all the way through, I can write a better review that doesn't look like some troll wrote it.

First off, if you loved the original Claymation original, Stick to it, it's so much better and more well received by the general public. This one isn't too much to love, unless you're from the 12 years and under demographic and you can stomach an hour-long musical.

The story is loosely, and inconsistently narrated by 4 fairies, named "The sprites of the northern lights" (Yeah, I have a whole paragraph to dedicate to them, so sit tight.) But the story itself is based around the character of Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, a reindeer born with a red nose, making him different from the other reindeers...You know what, You should already know this story.

But you don't know the other characters that go along with the story, Lets begin with Slyly the white fox, Who might as well be Tails the fox dragged out of a coloring book, but with the personality of Locke from Final fantasy VI. In short, he's a streetwise (Or in this case, arctic-wise) fox who's philosophy is "It could always be worse." Then we have Zoey the girl reindeer. The 1964 Rudolph movie equivalent of Clarice. and if you've seen the original, it's more or less the same character, just a little less figurine and more animated. Then there's Stormella, And I have to admit, it's comforting to know that Whoopi Goldberg can be both a gentle character as well as someone you just want to slap.

Now I promised you a whole paragraph on what I think of the sprites of the northern lights. They totally ruin the movie for me. It's like someone said "lets just throw these fairies in there to tell the story." But damn it, i'll take a singing snowman with some guy pretending to be Burl Ives any day over that. Maybe I really don't like them because I didn't like 4kid's flagship show Winx club either.

Bottom line, This is one you might want to check out, it's not Oscar worthy material but if you have an hour you don't have anything planned, it's worth a view. If not you, at least your youngest kids.

5/10