I'm trying
something different to get in the holiday spirit this year. Every
day, from now through Christmas, I will be watching a different
Christmas movie or television special. I have compiled the list of
features ahead of time and am drawing one, at random, from my
Christmas stocking everyday to determine what gets watched. Thank
you for joining me in this endeavor. We are down to the final three.
What feature awaits us today?
Frosty the
Snowman (1969)
Frosty the Snowman is the final
Rankin-Bass special that is a part of this project. It is unique
from the others that we have looked at in that it is not stop motion
animated but is instead traditional two-dimensional hand drawn
animation. This special is another holiday season staple and airs
frequently on whatever name ABC Family is going by now (Freeform, I
think). I am certain that I have seen this special numerous times in
the past, but I don’t think I have seen it within the last decade
or so. I certainly don’t have too many vivid memories of it other
than Frosty saying “Happy Birthday” every time he is brought to
life by the hat. I’ll be interested to see if it all comes
flooding back to me as I give it a watch. Also, I’ll be curious as
to whether or not I find the hand drawn animation preferable to the
stop motion or the other way around.
Synopsis
True
to Rankin-Bass form, we are introduced to our narrator almost
immediately. This time there is no clever character created to fill
the narrator role, though calling Santa’s donkey a clever character
is a stretch. The story is told to us by an animated Jimmy Durante.
It begins on the last day of school before Christmas. The children
are understandably impatient due to the proximity of the holiday and
the fact that the first snow of the season is falling outside. As
both a treat and a distraction the kid’s teacher has invited
Professor Hinkle, a terrible magician to perform for them. He act
goes predictably awry and he throws his top hat away in disgust. It
is then that class ends. The children go outside and build a snowman
that they christen Frosty. Professor Hinkle’s former hat blows on
to Frosty and he comes to life. Realizing that his hat is actually
magic, Hinkle takes it back over the protests of the children.
 |
| As we learned in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, mustaches equal evil. |
As
Hinkle is walking through town with is reclaimed hat, his rabbit
Hocus Pocus swaps
it for a wreath and brings the hat back to the children. Frosty is
returned to life and begins playing with the kids. Unfortunately,
the weather is starting warm and Frost can feel himself melting. The
kids decide that he needs to go some place where he will never melt
like the North Pole. After being unable to purchase him a ticket
there, the kids put him on a refrigerated box car that is bound
northward. One of the children, Karen, goes north with him. This
proves to be a problem for, while Frosty is safe in the car, Karen is
freezing and loses consciousness.
As
a result, Frosty and Hocus leave the train and carry Karen into the
woods to be cared for by the woodland creatures.
The
forest animals make a fire for Karen and soon she is feeling better.
Frosty stays on the periphery so as to not melt. They
decide to wait with the forest animals until Santa arrives to deliver
gifts and see if he can bring Frosty to the North Pole. However,
Hinkle has not given up his pursuit and soon
ambushes Frosty and
Karen.
Frosty is adept at belly
sledding
and they use
this to escape
from Hinkle.
 |
| I can't help but think that this is only making Karen's battle against hypothermia more difficult |
Because
they were forced to leave the fire, Karen is again getting too cold.
Luckily, their escape brought them right to a greenhouse growing
poinsettias for the Christmas season. Frosty decides to go into the
greenhouse with Karen for just a bit. Hinkle
arrives at this point and shuts and bars the greenhouse door figuring
that he can get his hat back once Frosty is melted. Just then, Santa
finally arrives in the forest and Hocus, who stayed behind, fills him
in. They go to the greenhouse but it is too late. Frosty is melted.
Karen is distraught but Santa explains that since Frosty is made
from Christmas snow he can never truly be destroyed as a December
wind will turn water back to snow. At this, Santa throws open the
greenhouse door and Frosty reforms outside. Santa informs Hinkle
that he had better let Frosty keep the hat or Hinkle will forever be
on the naughty list. Frosty goes to the North Pole with Santa but
returns to visit Karen and the other children every year.
 |
| The special doesn't wait long before bringing Frosty back, but this image is still pretty dark. |
Final Thoughts
Frosty the Snowman is pretty much
what I’ve come to expect from a Rankin-Bass special throughout this
project, at least story-wise. It is constructed the same as any of
the ones I watched this year. It is easily better than Nestor but
likely ranks somewhere below either Rudolph or Santa Claus is Comin’
to Town. As for the animation style, it is quite distinct. The
character designs are striking and stylized and the lush color
palette and shading really makes them pop. The frame rate is
sometimes suspect, however. Though beautiful in design the animation
is often jerky during any scene featuring a lot of quick action. One
thing that boggles my mind about this special is the sound design.
The sound effect choices are often laughably bad. The absolute worst
Hanna-Barbera
style sounds are prominently
on display. This special is cute and the art work alone makes it
worth seeing every now and then, but it is not the strongest of the
Rankin-Bass Christmas catalog. Although, it does have a fairly short
run time. So, it would be good if you need a Christmas fix but have
limited time to squeeze one in. There are only two more features
left in this marathon. Share in the accomplishment with me by
joining me back here for day 29.
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