CHRISTMAS EVE ON SESAME STREET

Last year, I did a review on the good, but heavily flawed Sesame Street Christmas Special "Elmo Saves Christmas". Well, let's go back and review a Sesame Street Christmas special that's 100 times better than the one I reviewed last year.

 

The special doesn't just have one but many other stories and moments all happening on Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. Yes, I'm going to review each plot and moment in this special separate.

THE ICE SKATING PARTY







The Special opens with all the characters Ice Skating from classic "Sesame Street" and doing the Ice skating for the Muppets are the members of "Holiday On Ice". This is a wonderful way to open the Special. When we see all of our favorite characters skating and having fun, I always get a kick out of it and the nostalgia feelings come every time I see this opening. The real fun is when we see Bert, Ernie, The Count and Cookie Monster Ice skating, while playing games, doing stunts, and having fun. I always get a laugh out of them. I also love seeing the other people of "Sesame Street" having fun, but once again it's the Muppets who steal the show. There's also a really cute moment when a little girl teaches Big Bird how to Ice Skate. This is indeed a wonderful opening and is so much fun that it never gets old. Now let's get to the plot's revolving around our characters.


BIG BIRD'S PLOT



This is basically the Specials main plot. Oscar asks Big Bird a legit question (Which has been answered in many films and specials later on, best answer "The Santa Clause") which is how Santa gets down a chimney and if Big Bird can't answer that, they'll be no presents on Christmas Day, can Big Bird find out in time? Big Bird is just as innocent, fun and lovable as we all know and love and his worries and obsession over the topic make you feel bad for him. Oscar the Grouch is at his grouchiest in this Special, I'll get to why later, but I will say I can't believe he curses Big Bird out. We also see Kermit the Frog, Grover, and Snuffy appear and boy are they just as fun and loving as ever. Big Bird's friend Patty is a sweetheart, but at the same time, I wonder why Big Bird didn't team up with the girl who taught him how to Ice Skate. It would make more sense of having them together instead of having someone we barley met, but I still love Patty.  There's some great humor here, especially the answers the kids give about Santa going down the chimney and there's a very sad climax. As for Santa, we don't see him, but we do feel his presence.

BERT AND ERNIE'S PLOT



The plot is traditional. Both Bert and Ernie give up a prized possession to get each other a gift, but the thing they gave up is not only special, but the gift they get to each other of them is for that special item they gave away. The plot here works very well for these two fun and great characters and just seeing them give away their prized possession to get a gift is very touching. Mr.Hooper plays a really big part in the story and not only does he show that it's better to give then to receive, this is a great Special to look back in memory of him.

COOKIE MONSTER'S PLOT



Cookie Monster tries to find ways to contact Santa so he can bring him COOKIES! This plot is so funny that I dare not spoil it for you. However, I wonder how Cookie Monster got Santa's number and on top of it, it leaves the question if anyone else in Sesame Street has Santa's number? Still a very fun subplot with Cookie Monster.

THE SONGS



I guess the last thing to talk about is the songs. The first song "True Blue Miracle" is my favorite song in the Special and I get chills every time I hear it, plus it sets the mood and the tone for the special. Remember when I said earlier about Oscar being at his grouchiest? His song "I Hate Christmas" is so mean and so nasty that he's worse then Scrooge and The Grinch all together as he sabotages and causes vandalism to the Christmas stuff on "Sesame Street". If that's not enough for you he sings the lyrics "I'll tell him (Santa) where to put his toys!", how did that get pass the censors? Bert and Ernie sing a beautiful and heartwarming cover of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" that's so sweet that I get teary eye sometimes. During the Ice Skating Party they were nice enough to play "Feliz Navidad" when Big Bird is skating with the little girl; they even play a little score to it. Of course, the best song in the Special that's sung not once, but twice is the song "Keep Christmas With You" which is so beautiful that I'm surprised it's not played on the radio during this time of year. We also get to learn the song in sign language and get a sing along at the end.

This Christmas Special is so funny, so heartwarming, and so memorable that I don't think any other "Sesame Street Christmas Special" can top it. Not even the one with Elmo or the one with Michael Jackson making an appearance.

RATING 5/5