BlackBeltDragon’s Top 12 Favorite Christmas
Specials!
Runners Up:
1. Gremlins
2. Die
Hard
3. Batman
Returns
4. House
of Mouse: Christmas Special
5. Merry
Christmas Drake and Josh
6. Kenan
and Kel Christmas
7. Donkey
Kong Country: The Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights
1. Olive the Other Reindeer
is a special that I see every year, and I do my best to make sure of that. It’s
about a dog named Olive played by Drew Berrymore who loves Christmas and loves
to celebrate it with her family and friends, but she finds out the news that
Santa is cancelling their flight because one of the reindeers broke their legs.
(So I’m guessing everyone knows that Santa exists in this world, and the news
needs to be brought up about this.) So Santa asks all the other reindeers in the
world if it’s possible that they can help, but olive believes that Santa
actually said, “That Olive the Other Reindeer” could help. She goes on a trip
to the North Pole with a con penguin named Martini played by Joe Pantoliano. (Do
you get it? He is named after an alcoholic drink. Most kids aren’t aware of
what a Martini is, so I think that makes for a genius joke.) So soon she’s off
to save Christmas and joins Santa on his sleigh and rides with the other
Reindeer. This special has a lot of good things going for it. I think the best
highlights are the amazing voice acting and great animation. The soundtrack
sung by talented artists also gets you moving and makes the movie that much
more enjoyable. It’s a special I look forward to every year, and it will always
be known as my favorite Christmas special.
2. The Polar Express-
From the same people who brought you Who
Framed Roger Rabbit and The Back to
the Future Trilogy. This is the team’s first Christmas movie and I’d say
this movie is more like an experience. It’s even better when seen on a Big
Screen or in IMAX. The movie on its own is good and definitely worth checking
out. I love the message it conveys, the spirit of Christmas it brings, and the
animation is absolutely gorgeous. It’s an amazing Christmas special experience
you should absolutely check out.
3. The Town That Santa Forgot-
This is a majorly underrated special that a lot of people need to know about.
It’s a Cartoon Network Christmas special based on the poem Jeremy Creek; it’s about a young boy who is always greedy and only
wants toys and boy does he have a lot already. One day, his parents have had
enough of buying him toys and now Jeremy is stuck and still wants more, so he
actually decides to wait and let Santa bring him toys. So he writes this
incredibly long list of things he wants and sends it to Santa at the North
Pole. The letter is sent, and Santa and his elves are very surprised by the list
and wonders why it’s so long. The elves believe that Jeremy Creek is a location
and not a person and they find out that a place called Jeremy Creek is the only
place that Santa never went to and so he decides to deliver the gifts to the
town, while Jeremy is waiting for Santa on his roof. Unfortunately, Santa
doesn’t come, and Jeremy is upset. The next day while watching the news, he
discovers the town that is named after him and finds out that his gifts were
given to the kids in the town who actually never had gifts or anything given to
them in their lives. It’s actually a forgotten town. At first, Jeremy was upset
about what happened to his gifts, but then the children of the town thanked the
person who gave them this miracle in their lives. After seeing how grateful
they were, Jeremy was actually touched by the good he did and learns the true
meaning of giving. I like this special for one reason only. At one point in my
life, I was this kid, and I was always greedy and always wanted a lot of stuff
for Christmas, but I watched this special when I was really young, and I really
started thinking about the message it was trying to convey. I eventually learned
how to give more rather than always receiving and after the first time I did
that I really felt happier. This is a wonderful special that teaches a good
moral about how it’s better to give then to receive. Plus this special has Dick
Van Dyke as the narrator and other great voices such as River Phoenix, Ashley
Johnson, and Harrison Ford. Who can pass that up?
4. Mickey’s twice upon a Christmas
is the sequel to the short Christmas specials of Mickey’s once upon a Christmas. This one is done in CG animation
that is done well that it looks pretty; I don’t have too much to say about it
despite how great it is. It’s just a wonderful special to see for the holidays
and there’s a very catchy song in the end credits. It’s definitely worth
checking out.
5. The Koala Brothers: Outback
Christmas- There’s probably a lot of you who don’t remember
this show, but I certainly do. It was a show on Playhouse Disney that is now
called Disney Junior. It’s about two pilots who go around helping their friends
at the outback. They go on many adventures around the world as well. In this
Christmas special, the Koala Brothers are having a Christmas party with their
family and friends, but one of their pen pal friends named Penny can’t make it
because she broke her wing in an accident. So The Koala Brothers go to
Antarctica and bring Penny to their home for the holidays. I do enjoy this
special a lot for its charm and its wonderful characters. I remember watching
this show as a kid and I’m still excited about it. It may not be great, but it
is definitely good and worth your time. It’s a special that brings out the
effort is trying to celebrate together with family and friends. (Talk about the
great stop motion in this show).
6. Christmas Eve on Sesame Street-
Now I’m not talking about the recent Sesame Street Christmas special. I’m talking
about the 1978 special. I watched this special many times as a kid and I still
remember it to this very day. I use to own the VHS tape of the special and kept
it for a long time, but eventually lost it and I was really upset when that
happened. It’s about Big Bird trying his best to believe in Santa Claus, but
certain signs are getting in the way of him believing so he tries to find out
the truth while heading to a party with his Family and Friends. Other sesame
street shorts are also a part of this special. This is such a wonderful special
that I’m not going to reveal much more information about because It’s
beautiful, amazing, and you just need to see for yourself.
7. Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes
Christmas- Ok, ok. Yes. I know this is another version of A
Christmas Carol, but there are differences. One using Looney Tunes characters
and taking place in the modern times. It’s kind of like another Christmas carol
adaptation of Scrooged with Bill Murray which is another good one to check out
(show Poster). The advantage this special has is Daffy Duck in the role of
Scrooge and the other Looney Tunes characters being the ghosts and some very
noticeable voices of actors and actresses. What I also like about this special
is that it’s the last time we ever saw the classic Looney Tunes. It’s a great
special with great jokes and it’s lots of fun to see. (Show clip of that’s all
folks).
8. Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost
in New York- This is a movie that has been on
reruns on TV over and over again. There’s no chance that you’ll miss seeing
this Christmas classic, but I can’t say the same for the sequel. It’s pretty
much a simple story about a child named Kevin who is upset that his family doesn’t
treat him well with the exception of his mother. On the day of their Christmas
vacation, they forget to bring Kevin with them on their trip to Paris. So now
he is left home alone without the family. While Kevin is enjoying himself, he
finds out that two burglars are trying to rob his house and now he has to
defend it. The truth is that I actually like the sequel better than the first
one because of the location. Although I put two movies on the same number
again, this time it’s excusable because they both have the same plot, but the sequel
has something more to it which is why I like it better. These two movies are
worth seeing on the holidays.
9. SpongeBob SquarePants: Christmas
Who?
- Now I know there hasn’t been a good SpongeBob episode in a long time, but
that doesn’t mean you should still hate him. Back then, SpongeBob was awesome
and this special is proof of that. It’s about SpongeBob learning about
Christmas from his friend Sandy Cheeks. She tells him everything he needs to
know about the holidays, but he was really interested about the existence of
Santa Claus. He tells his friends and they all try to celebrate their first
Christmas, but there is one person who doesn’t believe. That’s right!
Squidward! So now what will become of SpongeBob and his friends and could there
be a Christmas in Bikini Bottom? I won’t spoil it for you here. You must see
the special to find out. What I really enjoyed about this special is that even
though Squidward can be a jerk to SpongeBob it’s not because he hates him, he
is just annoyed by him. Sometimes he just has to realize that SpongeBob is just
trying to be his friend and wants to bring happiness to his friends. I also
really like Squidward’s reaction in the end when he discovers something
magical. It’s a great special with plenty of the great humor the show had in
the past, as well as Tom Kenny as Patchy The Pirate.
10. Santa Clause 1 and 2-
Now I know this is a cheat, but I love both of these specials equally. Well, I
do like the sequel a bit better once again. Let’s just begin with the story. It’s
about a father named Scott Calvin played by Tim Allen trying to give his child
Charlie the best Christmas ever and spend some time with him, but one night
Scott hears something on top of the roof
and discovers it is Santa Claus. Then Santa falls off the roof and dies (well
that’s got to hurt). Then Scott puts on Santa’s coat, goes to the North Pole
and tells the elves what happens. He then finds out that he is the new Santa
because he wore the suit and read the fine print of the card in the pocket. He
now needs to learn of his true destiny and fully become the new Santa Claus.
The sequel doesn’t have too much that’s different it just involves him trying
to find a Ms. Claus. What I really like about these movies is how far they go
with their humor. The back and forth on people both believing Santa Claus and
the performance of Tim Allen as Santa is really good. It’s a wonderful pare of
movies I do my best to see every year.
11. Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer-
Yeah, yeah. I know there are a lot of people who have issues with this movie,
but I like it for a few good reasons. The movie is based on the title which is
a funny Christmas song. It’s not great, but it’s enjoyable. The story is about
the grandson Jake trying to find his grandma after she goes missing. He also
discovers the existence of Santa Clause and finds out the truth about his cousin
Mel. That’s pretty much all I’m going to tell you because the whole story is
very silly and kind of doesn’t make any sense, but it’s nonsense and humor is
what makes this special so enjoyable.
12. Mickey's Christmas Carol-
now this one is known as a classic and for good reasons. Its shares the same
story of the Charles Dickens Book, but with Disney characters. There have been
many adaptations through plays and movies. Most of the time, each adaptation is
the same length in time. This version is one of those rare ones where the whole
story is packed into 30 minutes and the emotions of the story are still strong.
That’s pretty impressive. If you like the story then you are definitely going
to like this adaptation. The short is available on DVD and Blu Ray, it’s also
part of the House of Mouse Christmas special as well.
Thank you all
for joining me on this countdown have a wonderful holiday to all and to all a
good night. BlackBeltDragon signing out and see you next time.
