A Miser Brothers' Christmas (Deluxe Edition) Review

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(More customer reviews)I will give this 2 stars for nice stop-motion animation and colorful sets. They tried but they had a lousy story to work with. I realize that Rankin-Bass is history now but the "modern" take on these characters and the "new" story is just wrong on so many levels.
Mrs. Claus has none of the charm of the Shirley Booth character in the original "The Year Without a Santa Claus" and she looks like she is about 50 years older than Santa and she can't sing. Santa also lacks the charm of the original although still voiced by Mickey Rooney. The new elves, while admirably diverse, are charmless too and lacking lovability, especially the head elf who sounds like an accountant instead of one of Santa's jolly helpers. How modernly droll (not).
The Miser Brothers are OK but the new "improved" CEO version of Mother Nature and the huge-chinned North Wind? What on Earth? A useless peripheral character with zero interest as a villain.
The music is the worst I've heard on one of these, sounding like someone's teenager wrote it in the garage on their WalMart guitar in about 2 days. You won't be singing these songs again and again nor hearing them covered by any recording artist on a Christmas album. The original Misers song is the only highlight musically.
Too bad -- I really wanted to like this. A poor effort at capturing the magic of the old Christmas stop motion specials clearly made to make money and not delight children and adults alike.

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MISER BROTHER'S CHRISTMAS DE - DVD Movie

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The Year Without a Santa Claus (Deluxe Edition) (1976) Review

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(More customer reviews)Plenty of other folks have gushed (properly so) about the nostalgic content of "The Year Without a Santa Claus" (hereinafter "TYWSC") so I'll concentrate on the technical quality of the DVD release:
The picture on this disc is unbelievably bright and sharp -- undoubtedly worlds better than it looked when we all watched the original CBS transmission in 1974. It makes me wonder if they did any digital processing and cleaning up of the original print. I really enjoyed the "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" DVD release earlier this year, but the picture quality on TYWSC is far superior both in terms of clarity and vividness, and the animation and set design are also more detailed and elaborate than in "Rudolph." While not of Nick Park caliber, perhaps, the stop-motion animation is more than adequate: Both our 7- and 3-year old were transfixed throughout the whole show. You will be surprised by how great the picture looks. The original mono soundtrack is well balanced, with no audible hiss; both the characters' speech and the (many) musical numbers come through very clearly.
The "extras" include two additional Rankin-Bass holiday specials, making this disc a triple feature and a great value. They include "Rudolph's Shiny New Year" and "Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey." Both are of similarly high technical quality. Notwithstanding its goofy name and lower profile in the Rankin-Bass pantheon, "Nestor" is a half hour, animal-based gem that gives a welcome nod to the religious underpinnings of the Christmas holiday.
Whether for nostalgia value or your own youngsters, this DVD is a fine purchase.

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At the North Pole, the Christmas rush is on. Everyone from elves to reindeer are merrily preparing for Santa Claus's yearly sleigh ride. Everyone except Santa! Feeling forgotten by the children of the world, old St. Nick decides to skip his gift-giving journey and take a vacation. Eager to help, Mrs. Claus and two spunky little elves set out to see to where all the season's cheer has disappeared. Aided by a magical snowfall, they reawaken the spirit of Christmas in children's hearts and put Santa back in action.

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