With the right execution, a combination of an animation based around Christmas could have worked out well. Unfortunately with The Christmas Tree, the execution was just wrong and it didn't work out at all. The animation is, like the three terrible animated Titanic movies, terribly static, the character designs will leave kids traumatised, there is no fluidity(and little movement, for that matter), it looks very sparse and the colours are completely flat. The synthesised music is just as creepy as the character designs, has no warmth to it and for personal tastes doesn't fit at all. The dialogue is very corny and tired, further disadvantaged by the sloppy lip-synching(find a moment where the dialogue actually matches the lip movements actually). Every bit as bad is the voice acting, which is just as bad as the voice acting for the Video Brinquedo animations, which has some of the worst voice acting in all mankind. Monotone, garbled and wooden has been described, and those three words sum the voice acting up brilliantly, if there has been worse voice acting for children in any animation(film, show or special) I've yet to hear it. You don't identify with the characters one bit, they have dull or obnoxious personalities and how they're animated and voice further accentuate that, the titular character is almost completely sidelined. And the story screams of laziness, mean-spirited instead of heart-warming, dull instead of thrilling and full of padding that has no relevance whatsoever to what's happening in the first place. Admittedly the idea wasn't a particularly great or original one to begin with, but if The Christmas Tree was watchable at least that wouldn't have mattered. So in conclusion, as bad as has been said, even worse than Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer, Legend of Frosty the Snowman, Star Wars Holiday Special and Frosty Returns(Night B4 Christmas I remember hating as well). A disgrace to animation and you won't feel festive watching it. 1/10 Bethany Cox
33 Reviews
You'll believe kids could love... a tree!!!
natashabowiepinky25 January 2014
I have a little secret. Come closer... closer... Jeez, not THAT close. Now, I'm going to tell you a secret... And I don't want it to go any further than between you, me and the millions of other people who read my reviews. Do you understand?
I enjoy watching SOME bad movies. Not the ones that bore me to tears, or the cheesy ones, the unfunny ones... you get the picture. I'm referring to the flicks that are so terrible in every single department, they exude a weird kind of fascination. Who wrote this? Who paid for this? Who agreed to it's release? AND WHERE THE HECK IS MY TUNA MAYO SANDWICH?!
*Ahem* Ssooo... this brings me neatly to The Christmas Tree, which is a TV movie that you'll in all likelihood never see, but one which fulfills all the above criteria to a tee. (HEY IT RHYMES!!!) I found out about it online where it built up a rather infamous reputation, and being the sucker I am I just had to open Pandora's Box and give it a sneak peek.
Ladies and Gentleman... It did NOT disappoint. Well, it does if you're after a heartwarming spectacle for the festive period, but I didn't go into it with that mindset, Y'see? The creepy, almost static animation. The random, nonsensical plot. The barely coherent voiceovers. The dialogue. Oh my, the dialogue. Who speaks like this? Clue: no-one.
At only 45 minutes long, it leaves a lasting impression... of the wrong kind. Wasn't there ANYONE, somewhere along the production line, who took a closer look at the steaming pile that were putting together, and realised the horror they were about to unleash? Didn't anyone attempt to stop it, and make themselves a hero in the process?
Apparently not... and thousands of families around the globe are paying the price for their inaction. Remember kids, all it takes is for one good man to do nothing, and... 1/10.
I enjoy watching SOME bad movies. Not the ones that bore me to tears, or the cheesy ones, the unfunny ones... you get the picture. I'm referring to the flicks that are so terrible in every single department, they exude a weird kind of fascination. Who wrote this? Who paid for this? Who agreed to it's release? AND WHERE THE HECK IS MY TUNA MAYO SANDWICH?!
*Ahem* Ssooo... this brings me neatly to The Christmas Tree, which is a TV movie that you'll in all likelihood never see, but one which fulfills all the above criteria to a tee. (HEY IT RHYMES!!!) I found out about it online where it built up a rather infamous reputation, and being the sucker I am I just had to open Pandora's Box and give it a sneak peek.
Ladies and Gentleman... It did NOT disappoint. Well, it does if you're after a heartwarming spectacle for the festive period, but I didn't go into it with that mindset, Y'see? The creepy, almost static animation. The random, nonsensical plot. The barely coherent voiceovers. The dialogue. Oh my, the dialogue. Who speaks like this? Clue: no-one.
At only 45 minutes long, it leaves a lasting impression... of the wrong kind. Wasn't there ANYONE, somewhere along the production line, who took a closer look at the steaming pile that were putting together, and realised the horror they were about to unleash? Didn't anyone attempt to stop it, and make themselves a hero in the process?
Apparently not... and thousands of families around the globe are paying the price for their inaction. Remember kids, all it takes is for one good man to do nothing, and... 1/10.
So bad it's never been reviewed
mercuryix20032 January 2014
POSSIBLE SPOILERS, NOT THAT ANYONE WILL READ THIS REVIEW OR SEE THIS FILM:
I just saw The Nostalgia Critic's review of this made-for-TV animated "Christmas" movie, just published on Christmas day, 2013! It is probably the one and only review this "Christmas" movie ever got. I put "Christmas" in quotations in that, except for a brief fly-over by Santa Claus where he nearly electrocutes the bad guy and magically gives orphans new clothes (all of which takes less than 30 seconds), Christmas is never mentioned. There was an army of animators for this film, which is curious because it is so badly done, and the script (if you can call it that) absolutely did not merit the time and effort it took to make this. I have no doubt the TV stations that aired it were angry about what it must have done to their ratings. It completely misses the spirit of Christmas, and desperate to wrap things up at the end, the narrator says "and so as you can see, you always win when you're good". Uh, what? There's about 2,000 years of history to contradict that.
I feel bad for the animators that put so much effort into producing something so forgettable and irrelevant; I wonder what they thought about it? We will never know, as there are no other reviews for it, and no information about it is available. You will be wasting your time and inflicting considerable pain on yourself if you see this 45 minute film, but you will at least have fun watching The Nostalgia Critic tear it apart. There is so much wrong with this film, that it took him over 30 minutes just to point it all out, which is almost as long as the film! If you want a Christmas animated special, "The Christmas Tree" isn't it. Not that it matters, as it isn't available anywhere; which is perhaps how it should be (alright, you can find it on YouTube; which is probably the only thing saving it from extinction).
I just saw The Nostalgia Critic's review of this made-for-TV animated "Christmas" movie, just published on Christmas day, 2013! It is probably the one and only review this "Christmas" movie ever got. I put "Christmas" in quotations in that, except for a brief fly-over by Santa Claus where he nearly electrocutes the bad guy and magically gives orphans new clothes (all of which takes less than 30 seconds), Christmas is never mentioned. There was an army of animators for this film, which is curious because it is so badly done, and the script (if you can call it that) absolutely did not merit the time and effort it took to make this. I have no doubt the TV stations that aired it were angry about what it must have done to their ratings. It completely misses the spirit of Christmas, and desperate to wrap things up at the end, the narrator says "and so as you can see, you always win when you're good". Uh, what? There's about 2,000 years of history to contradict that.
I feel bad for the animators that put so much effort into producing something so forgettable and irrelevant; I wonder what they thought about it? We will never know, as there are no other reviews for it, and no information about it is available. You will be wasting your time and inflicting considerable pain on yourself if you see this 45 minute film, but you will at least have fun watching The Nostalgia Critic tear it apart. There is so much wrong with this film, that it took him over 30 minutes just to point it all out, which is almost as long as the film! If you want a Christmas animated special, "The Christmas Tree" isn't it. Not that it matters, as it isn't available anywhere; which is perhaps how it should be (alright, you can find it on YouTube; which is probably the only thing saving it from extinction).
It's bad, but that's kinda what makes it good.
serina258011 October 2018
Is this movie good? Not by ANY means!
It's horrible - poorly animated, poorly acted - but holy horse hooves if it's not entertaining.
My partner and I play this every Christmas while we set up our Christmas tree and make fun of how bad it is every year. That being said, it's kind of charming in that aspect. I look at this film as a comedy. If you go in with that mindset, you'll laugh your butt off.
If you go in expecting a Christmas classic, you'll be horribly disappointed. But if you go in expecting a bad animated film, you'll be delighted. It's hilarious and something to enjoy as a nice background film.
My partner and I play this every Christmas while we set up our Christmas tree and make fun of how bad it is every year. That being said, it's kind of charming in that aspect. I look at this film as a comedy. If you go in with that mindset, you'll laugh your butt off.
If you go in expecting a Christmas classic, you'll be horribly disappointed. But if you go in expecting a bad animated film, you'll be delighted. It's hilarious and something to enjoy as a nice background film.
How can anything be this bad?
toboekohaku12 November 2014
Christmas Tree is about orphaned kids trying to save a tree while under the care of a ruthless and greedy caretaker.
Acting - The worst group of acting of any animated movie PERIOD. The acting children are so inconsistent you wonder if they had drunk in the casting department. One sounds like they just learn how to talk, one kid sounds like they are from outer space, and one sounds like an adult. One kid you can barely understand. The actor of the father is the worst of the bunch. None of them show no emotion or effort except the caretaker Mrs. Mavilda can show too much emotion.
Sometimes you wonder if they had a director since the direction is bad and lazy
The animation is terrible and many of the aspects is terrible and can be quite creepy.
Acting - The worst group of acting of any animated movie PERIOD. The acting children are so inconsistent you wonder if they had drunk in the casting department. One sounds like they just learn how to talk, one kid sounds like they are from outer space, and one sounds like an adult. One kid you can barely understand. The actor of the father is the worst of the bunch. None of them show no emotion or effort except the caretaker Mrs. Mavilda can show too much emotion.
Sometimes you wonder if they had a director since the direction is bad and lazy
The animation is terrible and many of the aspects is terrible and can be quite creepy.
A Christmas special with a lack of Christmas...
GamerOfTime22 January 2014
Warning: Spoilers
In The Christmas Tree, a family moves into a town and the wife named Judy and her two children are offered to stay at an orphanage where Judy will work as an assistant for Mrs Mavilda. Unlike Mrs Mavilda, who is strict, cruel and keeps donation money for herself, Judy is kind and caring and gets a lot of respect from the orphans. Mrs Mavilda feels that Judy is getting too much respect and hatches a plan to get rid of her and the children decide to get help from Santa Claus.
The tree the title refers to is a pine tree named Mrs Hopewell but she is hardly involved in the plot as she is used a few times at the beginning but she doesn't become important until near the end.
The voice acting for the film is extremely wooden, especially the acting from the child actors as the children. It makes you wonder if they actually auditioned or if they only got the parts because they may have been the crews children. The voice acting from the adult characters is just as bad, particularly Judy's husband who sounds very monotone.
The animation is lazy and hardly anything moves. In most cases when a character is speaking, the only moving body parts are their lips and their blinking eyes. Little effort was put into the mouth movement as they usually do not match what the characters are saying. In fact, the first time I saw this, I thought it was a dub. The majority of the characters have the exact same faces and it is pretty creepy when they smile.
Despite being marketed as a Christmas special, Christmas is hardly ever mentioned at all. The movie also has a moral at the end where Mrs Mavilda becomes nice and learns that "you always win when you're good." Instead of getting punished for her mistreatment of the orphans, she goes back to working at the orphanage as an assistant. This is a horrible moral as being good does not automatically pardon terrible things someone may have done in the past. Instead, the moral should have been about why Christmas is one of the happiest times of the year and the fact that it is better to give than to receive.
Overall, this is definitely one of the worst holiday specials of all time and I do not recommend it for anyone.
The tree the title refers to is a pine tree named Mrs Hopewell but she is hardly involved in the plot as she is used a few times at the beginning but she doesn't become important until near the end.
The voice acting for the film is extremely wooden, especially the acting from the child actors as the children. It makes you wonder if they actually auditioned or if they only got the parts because they may have been the crews children. The voice acting from the adult characters is just as bad, particularly Judy's husband who sounds very monotone.
The animation is lazy and hardly anything moves. In most cases when a character is speaking, the only moving body parts are their lips and their blinking eyes. Little effort was put into the mouth movement as they usually do not match what the characters are saying. In fact, the first time I saw this, I thought it was a dub. The majority of the characters have the exact same faces and it is pretty creepy when they smile.
Despite being marketed as a Christmas special, Christmas is hardly ever mentioned at all. The movie also has a moral at the end where Mrs Mavilda becomes nice and learns that "you always win when you're good." Instead of getting punished for her mistreatment of the orphans, she goes back to working at the orphanage as an assistant. This is a horrible moral as being good does not automatically pardon terrible things someone may have done in the past. Instead, the moral should have been about why Christmas is one of the happiest times of the year and the fact that it is better to give than to receive.
Overall, this is definitely one of the worst holiday specials of all time and I do not recommend it for anyone.
May the people behind this "special" get nothing but coal from Santa from now on
jediforce1013 January 2014
Warning: Spoilers
I've seen quite a few bad Christmas specials like "The Night B4 Christmas", but I don't think it has anything on the sheer awfulness of "The Christmas Tree". It's everything wrong with a Christmas special and would turn even the most joyous man into a bitter Grinch after seeing this stinker.
The plot centers around a rundown daycare, where a woman by the name of Mrs. Mavilda is making the kids' miserable because she is really strict on them. The children's' only friend is a tree named Mrs. Hopewell, albeit all they do is stare at it everyday, but that's the least of this movie's problems. So when a new assistant arrives, named Lily, and her two kids, they all try to teach them about Christmas.
So what's so wrong with this movie? The premise is pretty mediocre, but that doesn't matter at the end when a good story with a good moral is done like in every other Christmas special right? Wrong. Very, very wrong.
First off, the artwork and animation is beyond hideous and sloppy. While the sets and backgrounds look decent enough, the character designs are horrible. Everyone's eyes and facial expressions are guaranteed to give kids nightmares and creep adults out. They all have blank, soulless eyes and sinister smiles and I feel that they're going to steal my soul. The animation is no better at all, it's even worse actually. The lip syncing is so off key, that it's like watching sock puppets try to talk. Every bit of dialogue never seems to match the lip movements of the characters. Not to mention that these characters barely move. They never seem to have any movement and when they do move, it's like they have chronic arthritis or something.
Secondly, the voice work is beyond awful even for a low budget special. The actors put zero effort into their parts, resulting in everyone sounding monotone and lifeless. The worst actors though go to the ones who voice the kids. I can't even understand what 90% of them are saying because their voices are very garbled and unclear. I know these are little kids, but at least let us understand what they're saying.
The next big problem is that the story is ultimately told very badly. There are a lot of pointless scenes that go nowhere. Sometimes, there are these horrible edits that show two things happening at the same time. The pacing is also really horrible and the quest to bring Christmas isn't done until towards the end of the film. Not to mention that there are some plot holes ranging from why Santa just randomly drops presents everywhere to what caused Mrs. Hopewell to be hit with a lightning bolt that resulted in Mrs. Mavilda being hit and somehow becoming nice. Many elements in the story are left unexplained for no reason and is irritating.
The final gripe, and possibly the worst aspect of this film, is its so called "moral". To put it bluntly, the moral here is so awful and misguided that you'll be wondering what the point of this whole film. Apparently, according to this movie, "You always win when you are good." Yes, this is literally the moral of this film. Instead of something like how everyone gets together to be with their families, or helping those in need during the holiday season, we get a horrible message that being good means you'll always win. If this isn't the worst moral in a Christmas special, then I don't know what is. As bad as "The Star Wars Holiday Special" was, it at least had some decent moral, even if it wasn't entirely clear, it had a moral. This movie's moral is beyond lazy and completely misses the point of Christmas so much so, you have to wonder if the people behind this film even know what Christmas is.
Overall, while this film may, keyword: may, be funny to laugh at how bad it is, it's nothing but a heartless film with a horrible moral, a badly told story, and horrible animation and voice acting. There's really nothing good I can say about this so called "special" and it's best left forgotten. So the next time Christmas comes around, find a way better special like the animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I'd even say go and watch the live action one. At least Jim Carry was amusing to watch in that one unlike this film. So unless you literally want to find a film that makes you hate Christmas, then avoid this abomination at all costs.
The plot centers around a rundown daycare, where a woman by the name of Mrs. Mavilda is making the kids' miserable because she is really strict on them. The children's' only friend is a tree named Mrs. Hopewell, albeit all they do is stare at it everyday, but that's the least of this movie's problems. So when a new assistant arrives, named Lily, and her two kids, they all try to teach them about Christmas.
So what's so wrong with this movie? The premise is pretty mediocre, but that doesn't matter at the end when a good story with a good moral is done like in every other Christmas special right? Wrong. Very, very wrong.
First off, the artwork and animation is beyond hideous and sloppy. While the sets and backgrounds look decent enough, the character designs are horrible. Everyone's eyes and facial expressions are guaranteed to give kids nightmares and creep adults out. They all have blank, soulless eyes and sinister smiles and I feel that they're going to steal my soul. The animation is no better at all, it's even worse actually. The lip syncing is so off key, that it's like watching sock puppets try to talk. Every bit of dialogue never seems to match the lip movements of the characters. Not to mention that these characters barely move. They never seem to have any movement and when they do move, it's like they have chronic arthritis or something.
Secondly, the voice work is beyond awful even for a low budget special. The actors put zero effort into their parts, resulting in everyone sounding monotone and lifeless. The worst actors though go to the ones who voice the kids. I can't even understand what 90% of them are saying because their voices are very garbled and unclear. I know these are little kids, but at least let us understand what they're saying.
The next big problem is that the story is ultimately told very badly. There are a lot of pointless scenes that go nowhere. Sometimes, there are these horrible edits that show two things happening at the same time. The pacing is also really horrible and the quest to bring Christmas isn't done until towards the end of the film. Not to mention that there are some plot holes ranging from why Santa just randomly drops presents everywhere to what caused Mrs. Hopewell to be hit with a lightning bolt that resulted in Mrs. Mavilda being hit and somehow becoming nice. Many elements in the story are left unexplained for no reason and is irritating.
The final gripe, and possibly the worst aspect of this film, is its so called "moral". To put it bluntly, the moral here is so awful and misguided that you'll be wondering what the point of this whole film. Apparently, according to this movie, "You always win when you are good." Yes, this is literally the moral of this film. Instead of something like how everyone gets together to be with their families, or helping those in need during the holiday season, we get a horrible message that being good means you'll always win. If this isn't the worst moral in a Christmas special, then I don't know what is. As bad as "The Star Wars Holiday Special" was, it at least had some decent moral, even if it wasn't entirely clear, it had a moral. This movie's moral is beyond lazy and completely misses the point of Christmas so much so, you have to wonder if the people behind this film even know what Christmas is.
Overall, while this film may, keyword: may, be funny to laugh at how bad it is, it's nothing but a heartless film with a horrible moral, a badly told story, and horrible animation and voice acting. There's really nothing good I can say about this so called "special" and it's best left forgotten. So the next time Christmas comes around, find a way better special like the animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I'd even say go and watch the live action one. At least Jim Carry was amusing to watch in that one unlike this film. So unless you literally want to find a film that makes you hate Christmas, then avoid this abomination at all costs.
The (animated) Room of Christmas
tommystans19 May 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Everything about this movie is just awful and on Christmas! The animation is stiff, no flexibility to make it look natural. The editing is sloppy and the voice acting and animation is just so terrible that it makes the Zelda CD-I cut scenes look like art form, and those cut scenes are terrible but at least they made the lips sync to the words unlike this movie. The music is just so bad that it sounds like someone was sleeping on the keyboard and think it's Mozart.
A lot of people have said that this the animated version of 'The Room' and even though it is funny to laugh at because of how bad it can be, its problem that it's a Christmas movie and at that time of the year there are Christmas films that are bad but had some effort in them to make them good. But this has zero effort put towards its animation, acting, editing and story. The lips just don't sync well at all, there mouths just flap up and down and there eyes don't move at all and they just blink slowly, no fluid movement put into them at all to make them flexible.
The editing is sloppy, there is a black fade at the start that finished a clip for about three seconds isn't a transitional fade not good enough for the people putting into their work? Plus the voice editing just skips at the end or goes immediately to the next line, no break whatsoever for the character. The voice acting is just unbelievably terrible! No emotion put towards that it that makes Kristin Stewart's acting from Twilight and the Snow White huntsman film more like Orson Welles, but we all know she's not a great actress but the voice acting of this poorly made film does, sorry to Orson Welles fans and I'm one of them.
The message at the end is also poor as well 'You always win when you're good!' not all the time! As Doug Walker says 'Christmas is effort' a time of year where we look out for other who had a bad time on one of the greatest events of the year, effort into buying someone a gift that they want or didn't expect. Christmas is also a time to give presents to the poor, the people who can't afford for great Christmas presents. We give them our money no matter how much we have to give them stuff that they want for Christmas such as food, decorations and presents and we, the donates, expect nothing in return. It's also a time where war cease to be for the time being, good will towards men. This special didn't do any of that and that's where it seals to the word awful.
This is a bad Christmas special and although it's funny like The Room, they should've at least TRY and PUT some EFFORT into this film.
A lot of people have said that this the animated version of 'The Room' and even though it is funny to laugh at because of how bad it can be, its problem that it's a Christmas movie and at that time of the year there are Christmas films that are bad but had some effort in them to make them good. But this has zero effort put towards its animation, acting, editing and story. The lips just don't sync well at all, there mouths just flap up and down and there eyes don't move at all and they just blink slowly, no fluid movement put into them at all to make them flexible.
The editing is sloppy, there is a black fade at the start that finished a clip for about three seconds isn't a transitional fade not good enough for the people putting into their work? Plus the voice editing just skips at the end or goes immediately to the next line, no break whatsoever for the character. The voice acting is just unbelievably terrible! No emotion put towards that it that makes Kristin Stewart's acting from Twilight and the Snow White huntsman film more like Orson Welles, but we all know she's not a great actress but the voice acting of this poorly made film does, sorry to Orson Welles fans and I'm one of them.
The message at the end is also poor as well 'You always win when you're good!' not all the time! As Doug Walker says 'Christmas is effort' a time of year where we look out for other who had a bad time on one of the greatest events of the year, effort into buying someone a gift that they want or didn't expect. Christmas is also a time to give presents to the poor, the people who can't afford for great Christmas presents. We give them our money no matter how much we have to give them stuff that they want for Christmas such as food, decorations and presents and we, the donates, expect nothing in return. It's also a time where war cease to be for the time being, good will towards men. This special didn't do any of that and that's where it seals to the word awful.
This is a bad Christmas special and although it's funny like The Room, they should've at least TRY and PUT some EFFORT into this film.
Awful Christmas special.
rileyspencer-9719 October 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Okay, okay. This review may sound like everyone else, but I have the same opinion of this movie as they do. I was just exploring IMDb when I found "The Christmas Tree" and saw the rank. I didn't know why it was rated very low, so I had to check it out.
Being that it is a 45 minute special and I was looking at this before dinner, I didn't want to watch the whole thing. I only watched the beginning up until they introduced Mrs. Hopewell. My first thoughts about this were: The narration sucks, and why did they name the tree Mrs. Hopewell? I decided to watch the Nostalgia Critic's review, which was almost as long as the whole thing, and that was probably because there are so many things wrong with it. Like I said, the narration was AWFUL, the animation is poor quality, the acting showed absolutely no emotion, the lip sync did not correspond with the dialogue, and one of the characters, Lily, sounded like she was drunk. Santa's voice, I thought, was demonic and sounded like as if the actor's voice was deepened. (I would say the same with another character whose voice was pitched) I highly recommend to watch it if you're looking for a laugh. Otherwise, STAY AWAY FROM IT.
Being that it is a 45 minute special and I was looking at this before dinner, I didn't want to watch the whole thing. I only watched the beginning up until they introduced Mrs. Hopewell. My first thoughts about this were: The narration sucks, and why did they name the tree Mrs. Hopewell? I decided to watch the Nostalgia Critic's review, which was almost as long as the whole thing, and that was probably because there are so many things wrong with it. Like I said, the narration was AWFUL, the animation is poor quality, the acting showed absolutely no emotion, the lip sync did not correspond with the dialogue, and one of the characters, Lily, sounded like she was drunk. Santa's voice, I thought, was demonic and sounded like as if the actor's voice was deepened. (I would say the same with another character whose voice was pitched) I highly recommend to watch it if you're looking for a laugh. Otherwise, STAY AWAY FROM IT.
BOO!
SnowLeopardMaster13 May 2018
Never watching this thing again. Absolute garbage. This thing was so cheaply made that it's mainly just a slideshow of bad drawings with a narrator talking in the background. The voice acting was terrible. One of the kids was actually impossible to understand, because they evidently just recorded a little girl blabbering on about who knows what.
The adult actors are terrible as well. Their voice acting shows a severe lack of emotion. In one scene, a child goes missing, and when said child's mother finds out, her tone of voice says "Oh well. Could have been worse"
And the plot... let's not go there.
The adult actors are terrible as well. Their voice acting shows a severe lack of emotion. In one scene, a child goes missing, and when said child's mother finds out, her tone of voice says "Oh well. Could have been worse"
And the plot... let's not go there.
Enjoyably Bad
patrick-bracegirdle111 January 2014
Warning: Spoilers
If you want a fun and exciting Xmas special for kids, don't show this. If you want a Ed Wood style unintentional comedy, you've come to the right place. Made from some Italian animation studio(Filmarion Ferraria), this film contains animation ripped of from other, more prominent studio that looks more appealing on the side of an ice-cream van. Since this film has poor animation, laughably painful content and a Italian directing credit, I am reminded of Titanic the legend goes on. This is one these films where there so bad yet so enjoyable at the same time, by comparison, Adam Sandler's schlock-fest Eight Crazy Nights is much better that this pile of cinematic trash. Still, at least its better than the Rankin Bass specials.
Stan Mrs. Mavilda
lilpissywinkle6930 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
While this is truly one of the greatest Christmas horror films to ever be released, I have to say, the one thing that completes this movie is the character that is Mrs. Mavilda.
Mrs. Mavilda is one of the best characters ever created. The film goes into great detail explaining the hardships she's had to endure throughout her life. Her backstory makes you feel sympathy for her.
Some may say that she's evil, but really it's the children's fault. They completely disrespect her and treat her like garbage, so it's only fair for her to stand up for herself. My favorite scene is the one where one of the children calls her a boomer so in response she calls the child the c-word. It's a masterful scene.
In conclusion, stan Mrs. Mavilda.
Mrs. Mavilda is one of the best characters ever created. The film goes into great detail explaining the hardships she's had to endure throughout her life. Her backstory makes you feel sympathy for her.
Some may say that she's evil, but really it's the children's fault. They completely disrespect her and treat her like garbage, so it's only fair for her to stand up for herself. My favorite scene is the one where one of the children calls her a boomer so in response she calls the child the c-word. It's a masterful scene.
In conclusion, stan Mrs. Mavilda.
Bad, yes, but... something is here...
facebookpurposesonly-7720413 January 2017
I don't even know how to explain it.
The voice acting is awful. The animation is hardly pretty to look at. The story is a garbled mess. But I still can't help but salvage something from this. Maybe it's just the natural Christmas appeal. Maybe it's just me imagining something better in the core of my mind. Maybe it's just the kid named, "Pappy" (the name makes me very happy for some reason). But... I feel a sort of magic from this. Like there is something wonderful even in the core of things like this. The best example I can think of is looking at the smiles of the children in a stop frame (not counting the orphans' first smiles towards the new children - that is memorable for a reason). There seems to be so much happiness in them, somehow. It's not really enough reason to call it a good movie, of course. I still watch it every year mostly because of how bad it can be. But it has a magic in it that earned it a spot in my Christmas movies pile. That alone says something, at least to me.
The voice acting is awful. The animation is hardly pretty to look at. The story is a garbled mess. But I still can't help but salvage something from this. Maybe it's just the natural Christmas appeal. Maybe it's just me imagining something better in the core of my mind. Maybe it's just the kid named, "Pappy" (the name makes me very happy for some reason). But... I feel a sort of magic from this. Like there is something wonderful even in the core of things like this. The best example I can think of is looking at the smiles of the children in a stop frame (not counting the orphans' first smiles towards the new children - that is memorable for a reason). There seems to be so much happiness in them, somehow. It's not really enough reason to call it a good movie, of course. I still watch it every year mostly because of how bad it can be. But it has a magic in it that earned it a spot in my Christmas movies pile. That alone says something, at least to me.
O Tannen-Bomb.
ExplorerDS678926 November 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Before I even start, yes, the Nostalgia Critic brought me here. But don't worry, I'll do my best not to retread his steps or repeat any of his jokes. So with everything that everybody has said about this animated special, is this really the Anti-Christ of Christmas specials? Duh! So anyway, how does this charming little tale begin? At an orphanage run by a cold, calculating she-demon called Mrs. Mavilda, who treated the children badly. She overworks them, starves them, and even pilfers money from the mayor, who donates cash in actual money bags with its intent to take care of the children. She pulls a few fast ones and keeps the money for herself to gamble with. One fine day, a couple with two children of their own venture into town, seeking a new life... boy, did you make a wrong turn. The mayor gives the father, Ray, a job at the mill, though it would require him to be away from his family for some time, and he arranges for the mother, Judy, and her two kids to stay at the orphanage, because... this town has no hotels, I guess. She can be Mrs. Mavilda's new slave... I mean, assistant. Mavilda runs a tight ship and lists off her extremely strict rules... I would say I hate this character, but she's not a character. She's an over-the-top stereotype who can't possibly be taken seriously. Still a bitch though. So, after Judy slaves away at her new job, the children introduce her to Mrs. Hopewell: a pine-tree that sat behind the orphanage. It was named Hopewell because it somehow gave the children hope, and faith. With Judy's help, they build a makeshift playground around the tree. With her around, the children felt happy and it looked as though things were starting to change for the better.
One fateful day, the mayor delivers two money bags to Mrs. Mavilda, which were intended to buy the children new clothes and Christmas presents. Bet you know where this is going. So while Judy tells the kids all about Christmas and Santa Claus and what-have-you, greedy Mavilda gambles the money away with her crooked friends. In the final game, it was all or nothing, and guess what? She lost. Yep, Mavilda done goofed. How will she explain this? Oh, she won't. She just orders Judy to keep her mouth shut about what really happened and tell the kids they won't be getting new clothes. So while she delivers the heartbreaking news, the overly-paranoid Mavilda tries to think of a way to get rid of Judy without arousing suspicion, as she so blatantly exposits to us. So she calls one of her lowlife friends and arranges for Judy to be framed for theft. Oh, and she also plans to cut down Mrs. Hopewell. Um... there's petty, and then there's... this woman. Excuse me while I imagine myself breaking a few of Mavilda's bones and slamming her head through a wall. Well, a little girl overhears Mavilda's plan, but doesn't get to warn Judy. She tells the others, and they hatch a plan to save Mrs. Hopewell...and Judy too. They send Pappy and Lilly, Judy's kids, to tell the mayor about what's been going on, but alas, they decide it's late and the mayor's gone home, so they decide to seek out Santa Claus to save their beloved tree. The kids set out to the North Pole on a makeshift dog sled pulled by their dog Liccorice. Suddenly, they're chased by Baloo the bear and lose control of the sled. Liccorice fights off the bear, while Pappy tries to help up his sister, who was slipping down the edge of a cliff. Unfortunately, poor Lilly slid off and became lost. Well, I guess Mrs. Mavilda's plan of framing Judy for robbery didn't work, so she just outright fires her and plans Operation: Chop Down Hopewell. So after I imagine myself cracking a few more of Mavilda's ribs, Judy stands with the children in defense of Mrs. Hopewell. I certainly hope they're chainsaw proof. Thank God the mayor arrives just in time to stop the madness. Pappy and Liccorice show up, and report that Lilly has gone missing. Determined not to let some children and a tree outdo her, Mrs. Mavilda revs the chainsaw to finish the job herself, when all of a sudden, lightning strikes her. Then, Santa Claus himself rides by on his sleigh and makes Mrs. Hopewell shine bright. He'd even found Lilly, who was reunited with her family. So, the mayor declares Mrs. Hopewell city property and makes Judy head of the orphanage. She and Ray adopt all the children there, and as for Mrs. Mavilda... she becomes Judy's assistant apparently, and she turns good, because you always win when you are good. Um, no!
Okay, so... bad animation and bad acting aside, this thing is an atrocity. There is ZERO character development, everybody is flat and boring, the story is ridiculous, and everything is just plain wrong. I don't need to stress what a horrible bitch Mrs. Mavilda was, just your typical abusive orphanage manager. Nothing like a little child abuse to brighten the holidays, eh? At least the children don't look abused. They're overworked and underfed, sure, but at least they look as though they were still able to eat and keep themselves clean. I hope so anyway. Not much else I can say. This was garbage. If you're curious about this special, watch the Nostalgia Critic's review or any YouTube Poops you can find. Don't torture yourself and sit through all 42 minutes of it like I did. It sucks the big one in all respects. Just...avoid it. It will anger you, annoy you, bore you and depress you.
One fateful day, the mayor delivers two money bags to Mrs. Mavilda, which were intended to buy the children new clothes and Christmas presents. Bet you know where this is going. So while Judy tells the kids all about Christmas and Santa Claus and what-have-you, greedy Mavilda gambles the money away with her crooked friends. In the final game, it was all or nothing, and guess what? She lost. Yep, Mavilda done goofed. How will she explain this? Oh, she won't. She just orders Judy to keep her mouth shut about what really happened and tell the kids they won't be getting new clothes. So while she delivers the heartbreaking news, the overly-paranoid Mavilda tries to think of a way to get rid of Judy without arousing suspicion, as she so blatantly exposits to us. So she calls one of her lowlife friends and arranges for Judy to be framed for theft. Oh, and she also plans to cut down Mrs. Hopewell. Um... there's petty, and then there's... this woman. Excuse me while I imagine myself breaking a few of Mavilda's bones and slamming her head through a wall. Well, a little girl overhears Mavilda's plan, but doesn't get to warn Judy. She tells the others, and they hatch a plan to save Mrs. Hopewell...and Judy too. They send Pappy and Lilly, Judy's kids, to tell the mayor about what's been going on, but alas, they decide it's late and the mayor's gone home, so they decide to seek out Santa Claus to save their beloved tree. The kids set out to the North Pole on a makeshift dog sled pulled by their dog Liccorice. Suddenly, they're chased by Baloo the bear and lose control of the sled. Liccorice fights off the bear, while Pappy tries to help up his sister, who was slipping down the edge of a cliff. Unfortunately, poor Lilly slid off and became lost. Well, I guess Mrs. Mavilda's plan of framing Judy for robbery didn't work, so she just outright fires her and plans Operation: Chop Down Hopewell. So after I imagine myself cracking a few more of Mavilda's ribs, Judy stands with the children in defense of Mrs. Hopewell. I certainly hope they're chainsaw proof. Thank God the mayor arrives just in time to stop the madness. Pappy and Liccorice show up, and report that Lilly has gone missing. Determined not to let some children and a tree outdo her, Mrs. Mavilda revs the chainsaw to finish the job herself, when all of a sudden, lightning strikes her. Then, Santa Claus himself rides by on his sleigh and makes Mrs. Hopewell shine bright. He'd even found Lilly, who was reunited with her family. So, the mayor declares Mrs. Hopewell city property and makes Judy head of the orphanage. She and Ray adopt all the children there, and as for Mrs. Mavilda... she becomes Judy's assistant apparently, and she turns good, because you always win when you are good. Um, no!
Okay, so... bad animation and bad acting aside, this thing is an atrocity. There is ZERO character development, everybody is flat and boring, the story is ridiculous, and everything is just plain wrong. I don't need to stress what a horrible bitch Mrs. Mavilda was, just your typical abusive orphanage manager. Nothing like a little child abuse to brighten the holidays, eh? At least the children don't look abused. They're overworked and underfed, sure, but at least they look as though they were still able to eat and keep themselves clean. I hope so anyway. Not much else I can say. This was garbage. If you're curious about this special, watch the Nostalgia Critic's review or any YouTube Poops you can find. Don't torture yourself and sit through all 42 minutes of it like I did. It sucks the big one in all respects. Just...avoid it. It will anger you, annoy you, bore you and depress you.
A reminder why people don't value actual skill or talent.
loraleejessome29 December 2016
There are people out there who are actually very good at drawing cartoons. It's a talent or a gift they've had since early childhood, where they just seem better at drawing cartoon characters than the average kid, and the love and joy they get from their craft can only be described as highly intense. And as they grow up they wish to share their talents with others, and make a career out of doing what they love. But due to a lack of resources, problems with health, ability, or money their dreams fell like just that, only dreams. And then, they see THIS monstrosity of a cartoon with ZERO talent and effort put into it, and it's because it's so horrible that it gets so much attention! This is the human race in a nutshell, ladies and gentlemen! A person like me, whose hopes and dreams of ever being a successful cartoon maker are crushed while, garbage like this gets put out for the world to see! People really don't value talent or skill anymore, after all it's just so much easier to crank out a total mess like this movie. What a stupid world!
It never ended and it was only 45 minutes long.
ofpsmith24 March 2015
To be fair, after I watched Doug Walker's review I expected this to be bad. And guess what? I was right. This is awful, stupid, poorly animated, poorly acted, and every bit as bad as I imagined. The plot goes like this. A new family arrives in town and the mother Judy (Karen Drygas) get's a job as an assistant to an evil Gestapo head of an orphanage, Mrs. Mavilda (Helen Quinn). But Judy decides that all the kids can have a good Christmas anyways. That sums up the plot. I won't explain anything else because I decided to take the time to make this review a full on rant about how awful this film is. The story is plain stupid, but honestly that is one of the redeeming qualities about the film. What really brings this crap storm is the acting. One end of the scale is Quinn who plays Mavilda, who pretty much screams at the top of her lungs and makes Nicolas Cage look subtle. On the opposite end of the scale are the child actors who make no effort whatsoever to put any kind of emotion in their characters. The other big problem is the animation which is really choppy and badly done. The film overall is just horrible! Let's just leave this pile of manure at that!
Become a tree
rbn_lrk-114 August 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Christmas is coming earlier these days.
Like My Little Pony Christmas decorations ads in the midst of summer.
The 1980's and 1990's had lots of Christmas specials.
Like The Santa Clause movies and more.
Now see the Nostalgia Critic review the worst Christmas special ever.
That is The Christmas Tree from 1991 about orphan kids.
Forget about live action orphan horror movies.
This is a horrible made short with lifeless animation.
That animation you can see from the 1970's when animation was in crisis.
Two kids in a rundown orphanage wants to go the North Pole to find Santa Clause.
But in the end the orphan kids are saved, as Coca Cola Santa Clause shows up.
Stiff animation, bad editing and bad Voice Acting that deserved some Razzies.
If you lust for more bad cartoon reviews go see Mr. Enter review things like My Little Pony G3.5.
At least it was from a time when Christmas was magic.
1/10
Like My Little Pony Christmas decorations ads in the midst of summer.
The 1980's and 1990's had lots of Christmas specials.
Like The Santa Clause movies and more.
Now see the Nostalgia Critic review the worst Christmas special ever.
That is The Christmas Tree from 1991 about orphan kids.
Forget about live action orphan horror movies.
This is a horrible made short with lifeless animation.
That animation you can see from the 1970's when animation was in crisis.
Two kids in a rundown orphanage wants to go the North Pole to find Santa Clause.
But in the end the orphan kids are saved, as Coca Cola Santa Clause shows up.
Stiff animation, bad editing and bad Voice Acting that deserved some Razzies.
If you lust for more bad cartoon reviews go see Mr. Enter review things like My Little Pony G3.5.
At least it was from a time when Christmas was magic.
1/10
Absolutely horrible
clark-allstar-kevin532 April 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Much like many other reviewers, I have watched Nostalgia Critic's hilarious, disparaging critique of this special, and it is indeed atrocious. Unfortunately, I have had the dishonor of owning this on VHS since I was a small child. I may have liked it then (and even then, it was kind of creepy), but I don't know what on Earth I was thinking. Anyway, my brother and I pulled out the video a few weeks ago to watch it again for its flaws, and boy, are they ever present. The plot was fairly well developed, but ruined by its horrible directing, hideous animation, and lifeless voice acting (except for Ms. Mavilda, whose anger was voiced well throughout the special).
Even the plot itself takes a nosedive at the end, when Ms. Mavilda becomes a better person after getting struck by lightning while trying to cut down the tree. The moral at the end, for that matter, was also badly chosen: "You always win when you're good". I mean, what does THAT have to do with Christmas? If anything, she should have gone to jail while we learn from her assistant's promotion how much it means to make a change to a formerly bad situation. You can find it on YouTube if you must, but I am definitely throwing out that VHS tape. No one should watch, let alone buy, this piece of Christmas coal.
Even the plot itself takes a nosedive at the end, when Ms. Mavilda becomes a better person after getting struck by lightning while trying to cut down the tree. The moral at the end, for that matter, was also badly chosen: "You always win when you're good". I mean, what does THAT have to do with Christmas? If anything, she should have gone to jail while we learn from her assistant's promotion how much it means to make a change to a formerly bad situation. You can find it on YouTube if you must, but I am definitely throwing out that VHS tape. No one should watch, let alone buy, this piece of Christmas coal.
Just Awful
brhjr7917 December 2019
Judging by "The Christmas Tree", one would assume that producer Flamarion Ferreira and writer Nels Christianson have been isolated from the rest of humanity for most of their lives. I suppose they were going for a "family movie" vibe but everything feels... off. The plot is boring, the dialog is atrocious, and the animation is just bizarre. The whole thing is just creepy which probably isn't the adjective they were hoping would be used to describe this production. But the fact that this train wreck somehow got distribution shows that literally ANYONE can make and sell a film no matter how bad it is.
This is just bad
churchgreg30 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I've seen this film a while ago and all I can say is "what did I do to deserve this?"
The animation is like watching YouTube on a Windows 98, the voices are like nails on a blackboard with a microphone and the worse of them all is the plot.
A group of kids (mostly orphans) try and help save their beloved Mrs. Hopewell and while they do that, two siblings embark on an adventure to see Santa with the company of a dog that was saved by the kids.
The entire film is bad except for the one kid who headbangs and the dog Licorice.
The animation is like watching YouTube on a Windows 98, the voices are like nails on a blackboard with a microphone and the worse of them all is the plot.
A group of kids (mostly orphans) try and help save their beloved Mrs. Hopewell and while they do that, two siblings embark on an adventure to see Santa with the company of a dog that was saved by the kids.
The entire film is bad except for the one kid who headbangs and the dog Licorice.
A side project that at best didn't turn out right. More accurately proved to be a disastrous embarrassment.
goldentiger-4444225 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
It was so lame that the network that aired it never aired it again and even denied its airing and existence. The production company has not made another show/movie since. The special starts off promising with a narration about how special Christmas is. The opening scene talks about an evil headmistress over an orphanage who gambles away the donations meant for the kids that live there. You can tell something's off with the dead vacant stares, expressionless faces, monotone voices, and bare bones animation. Why orphans? Probably a classic and easy way to get audiences to sympathize with them. Then it takes a weird turn with these kids naming a large pine tree Mrs. Hopewell and gather around the tree asking the pine to help them practically worshiping it. Help does come in the form of Judy a new hired assistant to help at the orphanage and the she really improves the orphans' quality of lives. Eventually Judy more or less figures out about her boss Ms. Mavilda misuse of money and mistreatment of children. Ms. Mavilda in turn plots to frame Judy to get rid of her since she's gaining a lot of admiration from the orphans and the rest of the community. Judy's own two children march up to the bear ridden Subarctic with a stray dog they adopted just to get help from Santa with the girl getting separated/lost with Judy taking the news surprisingly well and Ms. Mavilda planning on cutting down Mrs. Hopewell just because she's evil. Then the mayor shows up seeing the poor quality of the clothes the kids are wearing and realize that the head keeper of the orphanage is a greedy woman using the funds for her own pleasure. Then out of extreme hate filled rage and spite, Mavilda tries cutting down the tree just to be struck by lightning by a creepy Santa who returns the missing girl and a lesson announced that you always win when you're good. (Mavilda isn't adequately punished for her misdeeds.)
The flaws of this special are many and there's nothing special about it other than how lousy it is. Watching this should be a form of punishment. The animation is uncanny and unpleasant to watch barely qualifying as animation, the eyes are dark and soulless, and the editing was poorly done too. Now the sound and voice acting is so abominable and sounds like the actors aren't trying at all. In fact they including the ones for the kids sounded like they were drunk or so garbled. Seriously didn't they try more than one take or was their recording equipment not working? Oh gosh was that moral a doozy with no justice that being good automatically makes you a winner? Why not "Tis better to give than to receive, The Savior's birth, Help those in need, or this is time for gathering and family? Good golly the dialogue doesn't help either. This movie is just total garbage because it is so poorly made, lazy, misses the point, and barely has a thing to do with Christmas. It is in league with the Star Wars Holiday Special beating out tons of stiff competition. Heck it still holds its own against the latest and lamest to date.
The flaws of this special are many and there's nothing special about it other than how lousy it is. Watching this should be a form of punishment. The animation is uncanny and unpleasant to watch barely qualifying as animation, the eyes are dark and soulless, and the editing was poorly done too. Now the sound and voice acting is so abominable and sounds like the actors aren't trying at all. In fact they including the ones for the kids sounded like they were drunk or so garbled. Seriously didn't they try more than one take or was their recording equipment not working? Oh gosh was that moral a doozy with no justice that being good automatically makes you a winner? Why not "Tis better to give than to receive, The Savior's birth, Help those in need, or this is time for gathering and family? Good golly the dialogue doesn't help either. This movie is just total garbage because it is so poorly made, lazy, misses the point, and barely has a thing to do with Christmas. It is in league with the Star Wars Holiday Special beating out tons of stiff competition. Heck it still holds its own against the latest and lamest to date.
The Greatest Christmas Anime Everrrr
billymayslivesforever22 September 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Hello dear samaritans. Today I'm reviewing the greatest Christmas anime special to ever grace the earth, The Christmas Tree.
First off, the plot had me on the edge of my seat with suspense and amazement. In the beginning, Michael Jordan meets up with Pete Loeffler to play some Mushroom Kingdom basketball. While they play basketball in the night time, we get one of the best jump scares in this movie when out of nowhere, Michael Myers stabs Pete to death, and Michael Jordan runs away. Now, Michael Jordan is on the hunt to find and kill Michael Myers, and this is where the film gets extra juicy. I would like to tell you more but you just have to see it for yourself.
Second off, the technical aspects of the film are top-notch major studio quality. The resolution is so crystal clear you feel like you're really there. Colors and textures wildly vibrant and illuminating. The lighting was realistic-looking as well.
Third off, the acting is superb throughout the whole cast. Samuel L. Jackson as Michael Jordan is spectacular, Toby Maguire as Petey is terrific, and Torgo pulls off an Oscar worthy performance as Michael Myers. The rest of the supporting cast are all great too.
Fourth off, Tool, Radiohead and Talking Heads all wrote and collaborated on this soundtrack. The soundtrack is so good you WILL shed some tears from the sheer beauty of this masterpiece. It is life-changing, so even if you don't care much about the plot, the music holds up so well on it's own that you really don't mind.
In conclusion, this is a must-have for anime lovers and casual movie-goers alike! If you don't like or at least respect what this movie has done for mankind, then you are either a troll or a sad and miserable person. It should be law that public schools everywhere across the country should play this special in their schools. It'll educate alot of younger people about how art is something that should never die but should be kept alive. This movie is the reason I am living today, and without it.
First off, the plot had me on the edge of my seat with suspense and amazement. In the beginning, Michael Jordan meets up with Pete Loeffler to play some Mushroom Kingdom basketball. While they play basketball in the night time, we get one of the best jump scares in this movie when out of nowhere, Michael Myers stabs Pete to death, and Michael Jordan runs away. Now, Michael Jordan is on the hunt to find and kill Michael Myers, and this is where the film gets extra juicy. I would like to tell you more but you just have to see it for yourself.
Second off, the technical aspects of the film are top-notch major studio quality. The resolution is so crystal clear you feel like you're really there. Colors and textures wildly vibrant and illuminating. The lighting was realistic-looking as well.
Third off, the acting is superb throughout the whole cast. Samuel L. Jackson as Michael Jordan is spectacular, Toby Maguire as Petey is terrific, and Torgo pulls off an Oscar worthy performance as Michael Myers. The rest of the supporting cast are all great too.
Fourth off, Tool, Radiohead and Talking Heads all wrote and collaborated on this soundtrack. The soundtrack is so good you WILL shed some tears from the sheer beauty of this masterpiece. It is life-changing, so even if you don't care much about the plot, the music holds up so well on it's own that you really don't mind.
In conclusion, this is a must-have for anime lovers and casual movie-goers alike! If you don't like or at least respect what this movie has done for mankind, then you are either a troll or a sad and miserable person. It should be law that public schools everywhere across the country should play this special in their schools. It'll educate alot of younger people about how art is something that should never die but should be kept alive. This movie is the reason I am living today, and without it.
Mediocre Christmas special
Stompgal_8714 January 2014
Warning: Spoilers
I watched this special in full after having watched the Nostalgia Critic's review and while he panned its animation style, editing and voice acting, I have similar views on these aspects.
The animation is wobbly, especially when the characters speak, and inconsistent, especially when most of the children applaud as they see Mrs Mavilda release their dog from the window but one of them looks as if he is oddly nodding his head. The lip-sync could have done with some additional mouth shapes (such as the one for 'L') since it seemed out of place a lot of the time. While the opening shot of the storybook underneath the tree is colourful, the colours fall flat for the rest of the special and are often pale but I do like how Lily is dressed (blue dress over lilac top) to complement her blonde hair. While I'm on the subject of Lily, I couldn't understand what she was saying half the time and towards the end she is shown amongst the rest of the children when she was supposed to have fallen down a cliff. The characters were drawn in a borderline cute and ugly style but the backgrounds are detailed.
The best aspect of this film is the story, which carries the original idea of children making hopes and wishes to an outdoor Christmas tree, cleverly named Mrs. Hopewell. It does have its flaws such as shots of Mrs. Mavilda's gambling being intercut with Judy telling the children about Christmas and Mrs. Mavilda getting struck by lightning when trying to cut down Mrs. Hopewell. Why did that happen? I didn't get it...
Moving onto the music, a lot of it is electronically synthesised , thus taking away any meaning of the festive story.
Further to Lily's voice being hard to decipher, a lot of the voice acting was monotonous, especially Judy, but the script was as decent as the story.
Overall this is the weakest animated Christmas special I have seen so far but it is not as bad as the other reviewers thought it was. 6/10.
The animation is wobbly, especially when the characters speak, and inconsistent, especially when most of the children applaud as they see Mrs Mavilda release their dog from the window but one of them looks as if he is oddly nodding his head. The lip-sync could have done with some additional mouth shapes (such as the one for 'L') since it seemed out of place a lot of the time. While the opening shot of the storybook underneath the tree is colourful, the colours fall flat for the rest of the special and are often pale but I do like how Lily is dressed (blue dress over lilac top) to complement her blonde hair. While I'm on the subject of Lily, I couldn't understand what she was saying half the time and towards the end she is shown amongst the rest of the children when she was supposed to have fallen down a cliff. The characters were drawn in a borderline cute and ugly style but the backgrounds are detailed.
The best aspect of this film is the story, which carries the original idea of children making hopes and wishes to an outdoor Christmas tree, cleverly named Mrs. Hopewell. It does have its flaws such as shots of Mrs. Mavilda's gambling being intercut with Judy telling the children about Christmas and Mrs. Mavilda getting struck by lightning when trying to cut down Mrs. Hopewell. Why did that happen? I didn't get it...
Moving onto the music, a lot of it is electronically synthesised , thus taking away any meaning of the festive story.
Further to Lily's voice being hard to decipher, a lot of the voice acting was monotonous, especially Judy, but the script was as decent as the story.
Overall this is the weakest animated Christmas special I have seen so far but it is not as bad as the other reviewers thought it was. 6/10.
A Terrible Christmas (Crapmas) Special...
hsp-548686 July 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I first heard of this film from Nostalgia Critic's review, and this film looks pretty terrible from his perspective and mine. The animation looks beyond cheap, but not as bad as Rapsittie Street Kids' animation. The lipsyncing doesn't even attempt to match what the characters are saying, and the voice acting is wooden. Like all the children sound like they're slurring their lines. One of the kids, said by Nostalgia Critic, is clearly voiced by an 18 year old, and one of the kids is voiced by a teenager who's voice is pitched up really high to sound like a kid, but instead sounds like a robot. What the What?? And Mrs. Mavilda's voice actor even screams so loud at one point, that it sounds like an earrape. No lie, it does sound like an earrape. Also this movie steals character designs, like there's this bear that looks an awful lot like Baloo from The Jungle Book (1967). They could've made that bear a polar bear! (Nostalgia Critic) Also the rest of the character designs are pretty terrible. All the children have these black pupils with a grey glare in it. And there's this one scene where all the children smile and it looks creepy with their huge pupils and their weirdly designed faces. D'oh... And for some weird reason one of the kids is named Pappy for some reason. Pappy is obviously another name for Papa, but Pappy isn't a Papa, he's a little boy, so... This movie is terrible in every way from the wooden voice acting to the cheap looking animation. Don't watch this Christmas Special. Instead watch some good Christmas specials like How The Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966), Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1964), or Frosty The Snowman (1969).
Enjoyably awful!
mitsubishizero23 May 2019
Warning: Spoilers
This's on the same level as another so-bad-it's-good movie called Rapsittie Street Kids Believe in Santa in that it's enjoyably bad. The animation's poor, the voice acting's stiff, the writing is terrible and the editing is awkward. The message at the end comes straight out of nowhere and is so ham fisted.
The story's about an evil woman named Ms. Mavilda who runs a rundown orphanage. She abuses the children under her care by neglecting to give them a new change of clothes as well as blowing all the money donated by the generous yet oblivious mayor.
That all changes when a new family in town looking for work stays at the orphanage after the mother's accepted for a job by Ms. Mavilda. Mavilda must have a split personality because she just goes off on the mother when she tells her what her duties are around her new home. The mom just stands there and takes it for some reason.
The mom has two kids named Lily and Pappy whom are forced to live with the other kids who kindly take them in. This leads to a scene where they all flash a creepy, sinister smile. All the actors are hard to understand particularly the sister Lily. It doesn't help that one kid's voiced by an adult and their voice is digitally sped up. It's distracting.
The mom is shocked to find out that the kids don't know anything about Christmas which drives her to improve the conditions such as building a wooden playground outside their backyard. This worries Ms. Mavilda who fears that she'll catch on to her next scheme which's to gamble the next donation she receives from the mayor.
The mom does and calls her out on it which forces the crazy woman to come clean. She then plots to frame her for theft then get rid of the tree that the kids see as a motherly figure. The trees name is literally Mrs. Hopewell. I wish I was making this up.
One of the kids finds out about her plan and warn her kids who decide to go to the North Pole and seek Santa for help. This's when things go downhill. So yeah this's a bad movie. Everything about this is horrible. It only aired once on tv and for good reason. How this came to be is a mystery. It is enjoyable in how stiff the acting, dialogue, animation and editing is. There're a lot of unintentionally funny moments. If you like watching bad movies than you'll enjoy this but for the rest cross this of your wish list. This's the kind of movie you use to punish your kids for being naughty.
The story's about an evil woman named Ms. Mavilda who runs a rundown orphanage. She abuses the children under her care by neglecting to give them a new change of clothes as well as blowing all the money donated by the generous yet oblivious mayor.
That all changes when a new family in town looking for work stays at the orphanage after the mother's accepted for a job by Ms. Mavilda. Mavilda must have a split personality because she just goes off on the mother when she tells her what her duties are around her new home. The mom just stands there and takes it for some reason.
The mom has two kids named Lily and Pappy whom are forced to live with the other kids who kindly take them in. This leads to a scene where they all flash a creepy, sinister smile. All the actors are hard to understand particularly the sister Lily. It doesn't help that one kid's voiced by an adult and their voice is digitally sped up. It's distracting.
The mom is shocked to find out that the kids don't know anything about Christmas which drives her to improve the conditions such as building a wooden playground outside their backyard. This worries Ms. Mavilda who fears that she'll catch on to her next scheme which's to gamble the next donation she receives from the mayor.
The mom does and calls her out on it which forces the crazy woman to come clean. She then plots to frame her for theft then get rid of the tree that the kids see as a motherly figure. The trees name is literally Mrs. Hopewell. I wish I was making this up.
One of the kids finds out about her plan and warn her kids who decide to go to the North Pole and seek Santa for help. This's when things go downhill. So yeah this's a bad movie. Everything about this is horrible. It only aired once on tv and for good reason. How this came to be is a mystery. It is enjoyable in how stiff the acting, dialogue, animation and editing is. There're a lot of unintentionally funny moments. If you like watching bad movies than you'll enjoy this but for the rest cross this of your wish list. This's the kind of movie you use to punish your kids for being naughty.
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