I remember seeing the first half of this at Christmas when I was about 13 and up until now the only part I could remember was the mention of the 4th of July in Olive's opening song. Also I actually thought Olive was a reindeer but she is really a dog and an endearing character who was superbly voiced by Drew Barrymore who was particularly recognisable in this special. This morning when I was flicking through the channels, I caught this towards the end on E4 so I watched it from the beginning on E4 +1 and I found it more substantial and entertaining that time around.
The animation style is unusual but it matches the cover illustration of the book (I haven't read it, I just saw its cover whilst looking at it on Amazon) and the character movements are smooth. While I thought the lip-sync was initially basic, it turned out to be more detailed than I remembered. Although the backgrounds look as through they were rendered using cheap CGI, they were quite vibrant. Further to the characters, the postman is a decent villain who has a sudden change of personality but it was comical when he disguised himself as a waitress. Fido's mishearings of Santa saying he had to "make do with all of the other reindeer" and Tim apologising to Olive through the window of her kennel as she hides were essential parts of the story and Martini the penguin is funny. In addition to Barrymore as Olive and Dan Castellanetta (best known for his role as Homer Simpson in my all-time favourite animated sitcom) as the postman, other well-known cast members include Michael Stipe (REM's frontman) as Schintzel the reindeer, Matt Groening (one of the special's executive producers and creator of 'The Simpsons') as Arturo the Elf and Edward Asner (who later provided the voice of Carl in Disney and Pixar's bittersweet adventure 'Up') as Santa. All songs but 'Merry Christmas, After All,' which was initially forgettable but was likable the second time around due to its rock 'n' roll feel and accompanying around-the-world sequence, are memorable, especially Olive's opening song and the incidental music is magical and whimsical if generic and slightly repetitive in parts. The story has several twists and turns if some parts are clichéd but it is very different from the stories of many other Christmas specials and when I told one of my university classmates about this special, it kind of reminded her of the storyline of 'Annabelle's Wish' (due to Olive and Annabelle both wanting to be reindeer) that I should finish watching someday because it is so far so good. Although I felt that Olive should have worn the headband with antlers during Santa's sleigh ride rather than towards the end, I still found this a cute and amusing part of the film.
Anyway, here's my verdict. I found this a slightly bizarre yet adorable and underrated animated Christmas special with its brightest spots being the character animation, the storyline, the dialogue, the voice acting and the majority of the music. 8/10.
The animation style is unusual but it matches the cover illustration of the book (I haven't read it, I just saw its cover whilst looking at it on Amazon) and the character movements are smooth. While I thought the lip-sync was initially basic, it turned out to be more detailed than I remembered. Although the backgrounds look as through they were rendered using cheap CGI, they were quite vibrant. Further to the characters, the postman is a decent villain who has a sudden change of personality but it was comical when he disguised himself as a waitress. Fido's mishearings of Santa saying he had to "make do with all of the other reindeer" and Tim apologising to Olive through the window of her kennel as she hides were essential parts of the story and Martini the penguin is funny. In addition to Barrymore as Olive and Dan Castellanetta (best known for his role as Homer Simpson in my all-time favourite animated sitcom) as the postman, other well-known cast members include Michael Stipe (REM's frontman) as Schintzel the reindeer, Matt Groening (one of the special's executive producers and creator of 'The Simpsons') as Arturo the Elf and Edward Asner (who later provided the voice of Carl in Disney and Pixar's bittersweet adventure 'Up') as Santa. All songs but 'Merry Christmas, After All,' which was initially forgettable but was likable the second time around due to its rock 'n' roll feel and accompanying around-the-world sequence, are memorable, especially Olive's opening song and the incidental music is magical and whimsical if generic and slightly repetitive in parts. The story has several twists and turns if some parts are clichéd but it is very different from the stories of many other Christmas specials and when I told one of my university classmates about this special, it kind of reminded her of the storyline of 'Annabelle's Wish' (due to Olive and Annabelle both wanting to be reindeer) that I should finish watching someday because it is so far so good. Although I felt that Olive should have worn the headband with antlers during Santa's sleigh ride rather than towards the end, I still found this a cute and amusing part of the film.
Anyway, here's my verdict. I found this a slightly bizarre yet adorable and underrated animated Christmas special with its brightest spots being the character animation, the storyline, the dialogue, the voice acting and the majority of the music. 8/10.