CHRISTMAS TOYSHOP
Unlike the other shorts featured on this DVD, where the live
action shorts would have very few cartoon images and stock footage from other
Christmas shorts; half of this short is filled with newly made live action
footage, while the other half of the short features a shorten version of an
old cartoon made ten years ago, before this short was made. So by order for me
to review this short film, I'm going to review the live action footage and the
cartoon that’s featured in the short individually for this review. So this will be a review of two Christmas shorts for a review of one!
Since the cartoon came first, I'll start with reviewing the old cartoon that's featured in the short called "Ye Olde Toy Shop" made in 1935. The cartoon is just simply about toys in an old Toy Shop coming to life once the toymaker leaves the shop, and start to have fun all through the night. However, their fun is interrupted once a nasty Spider comes crawling in and kidnaps one of the toys, as the toys try to stop him. The cartoon about toys coming to life is nothing that different or new since many other cartoons around that time were pretty much doing the same concept, including Disney. However, that wouldn't matter so much if the cartoon was doing something new and creative with that concept, and sadly it doesn't. The story and concept pretty much follows every other cliche that these types of cartoons were doing at the time with really no new twists and turns. The animation and designs for the toys, aside from the Spider looking pretty cool, it isn’t all that great or creative either. It's pretty much just your average type of classic cartoon animation, with designs that you feel like you've seen before in other classic cartoons that look way more creative than this. Even when the Wooden soldiers fight against the evil Spider lacked creativity and instead felt pretty rushed, which sadly makes this battle feel very anti-climatic. Speaking of Wooden Soldiers fighting, I can actually see why this cartoon was included on the DVD. The cartoon not only has Wooden Soldiers fighting off a monstrous villain, like in "March Of The Wooden Soldiers", but some of the toys are based on Nursery Rhyme characters, just like how all the residents living in Toyland are Nursery Rhyme characters. Just for the record, those examples I just gave about it's similarities to "March Of The Wooden Soldiers" are also part of the reason why this cartoon is so cliched.
As cliched and unimaginative as the cartoon is, I’ll admit that it was entertaining, as well as being pretty cute, especially with the Soprano choir throughout the cartoon that just adds to the cute factor. There are better cartoon shorts out there that do a much better job with this concept than this, but if you're willing to spend 5 minutes of your time watching this, then you'll be entertained by it fine. It's not something I recommend, but it's not a complete waste of your time either.
RATING 2/5
Now lets get onto the real short that I'm reviewing that includes the cartoon that I just reviewed.
LIVE ACTION
Two kids hear a noise downstairs in the middle of the night and discover that it's Santa who made the noise by accidentally falling down the chimney (Despite that he's been doing this job for centuries). As the kids try to help Santa, Santa tries to send them to bed, but the kids refuse to go and instead want to open their presents. As one of the kids asks Santa where the toys come from, Santa only tells them where they come from if the kids promise to go back to bed, which the kids agree to do so, and thus we launch into the cartoon "Ye Olde Toy Shop".
Before I talk about if the cartoon fits with the short or not, I'm going to start with talking about the live action segments of the short because believe me there's plenty to cover. If you're thinking the short starts out with Santa falling down the chimney, it doesn't, actually we see the kids spending time with their family before they go to bed and I'm just going to flat out say that they are incredibly boring. I really wish I wasn't joking, this family is so boring and so dull that even when they celebrate Christmas together or when we see the kids interact with Santa, it’s not at all engaging or charming. That's seriously how boring they are. The short tries to make the Father funny by having him be a complete klutz as he brings in the tree and presents, but even that's not funny or entertaining If anything it feels forced and desperate for you to get a chuckle out of the things he messes up, which seem like the actor playing him is doing it on purpose, instead of making it look like an accident. Things only get worse, when we see the Sandman sprinkling sand on the kids to help them go to sleep, and instead of it being a cute and enchanting scene (Like the Sandman in "March Of The Wooden Soldiers" for example) it actually looks pretty creepy. When Santa finally goes crashing down the chimney, the transition to that scene is awful. We go from the Father dropping presents, to immediately cutting to Santa falling down the chimney as the kids run up to him, which feels like it's all happening in the same exact scene. That's how bad the transition to Santa's entrance is. As for the guy playing Santa, I guess he's decent. He's definitely not creepy, but I don't know, he seems to be a bit pushy and tired. Now granted it's understandable how he could be this way since he just fell down a chimney and has to deal with two kids who are standing in his way from him delivering presents to other houses for the rest of the night, but even when he tells the kids the story about the toyshop and greets them, there's still a lack of jolliness to him. I'm not saying the guy playing Santa is bad, I just feel like that he could have portrayed him a little bit better, by not making him be so pushy and show a little more of his jolly side.
So I'm sure you're wondering if the cartoon actually fits in with this short. Well, the straight answer is no it doesn't. While there are many different variations of Santa Claus out there, the idea of the toys that he delivers actually comes from a toyshop up North that an old man runs, with toys coming to life behind his back is a painfully lame concept that hardly connects to Santa at all, and in reality is only there as a BS excuse to feature the cartoon. I mean come on, couldn't this short have shown his workshop and his elves making toys in a creative and entertaining way that could either be animated or filmed in live action? Seriously are the people behind this short really that cheap? Even if I were a kid watching this short, I wouldn't buy into the story of Santa getting or stealing toys from a toyshop owned by an old man. Hell, the cartoon itself is more about the toys dancing around and fighting an evil Spider, than it involves Santa. How does Santa fall into this? The cartoon is really in the short as pointless filler since the people behind the short didn't have a budget to do something nice and creative with it.
What I think really ruins the whole entire short for kids is the fact that the short pretty much tells kids that Santa doesn't exist. Is the short right, well obviously yeah, but this is aimed towards kids, who are still at that age of believing that Santa exists. To be fair, the short does have the kids believe that their encounter with Santa was real, but it's clear that it was all a dream instead of being left open for interruption like something like "The Wizard Of OZ" for example. Though I will admit, I do find it almost as odd as the kids having the same exact dream like the kids in the animated short "Somewhere In Dreamland". Aside from the kids encounter with Santa being an obvious dream all along with not a single lesson learned, the real reason why the short exposes to kids that Santa doesn't exist is the fact that the short makes itself clear that it's the Father who leaves the toys and dresses up like Santa. At least "A Christmas Story" was subtle about the parents being the ones who leave the gifts; this is flat out telling the kids that Santa doesn't exist. I know for many of us adults this criticism is a minor issue, but looking at what audience that this short is targeted towards, it's a bit of a killjoy.
This short really doesn't have a reason to exist or even be seen for that matter. The live action segments are boring; throwing in an old cartoon from the 30s that's trimmed down to fit the run time of the short is pointless lazy filler; the jokes aren't funny; and the lesson that kids will learn from this short is the fact that Santa doesn't exist. Don't get me wrong, I do think kids should eventually know the truth as they get older, but not like this. I feel like it's more of the job of the parent, than a Christmas short that's obviously aimed for kids to tell them that Santa doesn’t exist. Trust me when I say that this short is not worth your time, and if you're only going to see the short to see the cartoon that’s featured in it, you're better off watching the original cartoon online that has a shorter run time than this.
RATING 0/5
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