Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

I really do not care for animated movies, but this one was pretty good. Normally, I would not even CONSIDER watching an animated movie, but this one interested me (as the title, is that of a song have heard for years). I took a chance and did not regret it. I won't say it's a masterpiece, but it is worthy of respect. It is pretty much the way the song goes. As each detail of the story is demonstrated, a clip of the song is played. Also, there are several new songs introduced that create originality. Grandma has a store, A business man wants to buy it, but she does not want to sell. Cousin Mel plans to steal the store from Grandma, but all things change because "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer"!

Alright, listen. This special is all over the place. It's awkwardly animated (to say the least), the story is weakly fashioned around a satirical Christmas song (and is more filler than genuine, holly-jolly entertainment), the voice acting is subpar, and, at 51 minutes, it's way too long. But all those things are what make this ridiculous little movie so endearing. It's something I would watch as a kid and enjoy, if for nothing more than the simple story and jokes. It was a little too long to hold my attention throughout, even then, but it still had something special about it that kept me coming year after year. Now, it's good for the fun factor of it. You can't put this on expecting to see A Charlie Brown Christmas-level of quality, because that's just not it. When taken for that it is (a quick attempt for Warner Bros. to cash in on the hit Dr. Elmo song), it offers just enough to give a little holiday cheer. Shoehorning in a bunch of cuts off Dr. Elmo's Christmas record of the same name, it makes for some of the most awkward, inappropriately inserted musical numbers, perhaps, in this history of animated movies. It's worthy of countless razzies and that's why I love it.

So what a great Christmas kids show. I rented it for my nieces and didn't realize they had to put all kinds of cleavage and inappropriate dress on the women. Its a kid show . Are you for real. I regret renting it. Could be a perfect show, but..... kids don't need to be exposed to that at a young age. Shameful.

"Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" is a film I hadn't seen in forever, and I'm not even sure it comes on Cartoon Network, anymore. I saw it the day it premiered, and have always had a soft spot towards it, in my heart. It has so many great things about it, for the nostalgic taste of someone who actually cares about it, but it definitely has flaws I've only now picked-up on.

Essentially, this is a film that takes that hilarious, homey classic song and adds a story around it. It's not necessarily in need of existence, and yet I've always enjoyed it, no matter how much everyone I know hates it.

You have a family literally called the Spankenheimers (lmao), and there's a grandmother whom owns a store everyone in town seems to love. A businessman tries to purchase the store, but the grandmother is not interested in selling the old, charming place. Eventually, grandma gets cold-cocked by Santa and his reindeer, and they kidnap her from the yard of her own home, even though they claim they don't know where she lives. Again, though: they kidnapped her from the front yard lol. Santa and his team take grandma to the North Pole, and keep her for almost a year. The grandmother's grandson (grandson Spankenheimer lol) doesn't believe his grandmother is dead, and he tries his best to find her. And that's the story, pretty much. Very cooky. Very odd. Very silly. But lovable, quite frankly.

I personally think the voice acting is fine from almost everyone, except for Cousin Mel (a sellout within the Spank-Bank family tree). That actress can sometimes sound sadistic, and sometimes makes me laugh out loud about her line delivery-as if she didn't understand what she was supposed to be saying.

The music is quite a mess. The original song and title is very solid, and something heartwarming for me, since I grew-up on it. But, Good Lord, it spirals downhill with songs like "Grandpa's Gonna Sue The Pants Off Of Santa". That's a real song, and it goes on for almost five minutes. It's pretty rough stuff.

The animation is not very smooth. Sometimes, it feels like they hadn't drawn enough frames, and so they just slowed-down the footage they actually drew.

The coloring is absolutely vivid, however, and I feel it makes this special movie a lot more personable and cozy in my memories from when I was younger.

If you can't tell, I really love it, in an odd way, and probably always will. I really hope, if I'm blessed with children of my own, someday, that they'll enjoy this as much as I had, for so many years.

Surprisingly, I would call this a modern Christmas classic, even though it probably shouldn't exist.

Grandma Spankenheimer has a small store in the middle of the city. Grandson Jake works with her along with the rest of the family. Cousin Mel is greedy and hates Grandma's generous ways. She is so desperate to sell the store to tycoon Austin Bucks that she is willing to sabotage Grandma's fruitcake recipe. Then the song happens and Santa runs over Grandma.

Writing a story to a novelty song is not usually recommended. They even double-down with more songs. Acting out the song is cringe-worthy. Everything after that is either annoying or boring. The animation is lower grade. Despite all that, I'm invested in finding Grandma if only to get to the end. It would be more daring and fun if Grandma actually was killed by Santa. Of course, that would be asking too much for this Christmas special wannabe.