Like many of the other Christmas shorts that I previously reviewed that I remember watching every Holiday Season when I was a kid. This musical short cartoon about an Elf-like Winter Spirit was indeed one of them. But despite that I spent many Christmas' watching this short as a kid, is it as good as I remember it; ON WITH THE REVIEW!
Summer is coming to a close for the community of talking animals living in the woods, as Jack Frost flies by to change the season. All the animals get ready to hibernate for the winter, except for a bear cub that doesn't see the need for hibernation, since bear's are tough and are covered with fur to keep them from freezing to death. But the bear cub's Mother warns him about the mean and powerful Old Man Winter, who will get him if he sees him wandering in the cold. Of course, the bear cub refuses to listen to his Mother, and runs away from home. As you probably may have guessed of what happens beyond this point. The bear cub is at first amazed by the things that he has been missing out on, but is then later being chased by Old Man Winter, which obviously ends with Jack Frost saving the poor little cub as he learns his lesson about listening to his elders. So the plot is as basic and predictable as it gets, but is it at least executed well through its visuals, characters, and songs?
Well the animation for starters is very good. I admire how bright and colorful it all looks, as we go through the seasons of summer, fall, and winter. And what compliments on the cartoon's colorful environment is the concept of making Jack Frost change the seasons by painting the levees a different color, and drawing things that associate with each particular season with his magic paint brush; as well as witnessing him create ice paintings on the windows since that’s what this winter icon was best known for. The design for him is also pretty creative, and the visuals that we see from his art work that comes to life are very imaginative. My favorites are the Jack-O-Lanterns that suddenly come alive where the scene is then followed by a short song and dance number with a scatting Scarecrow and singing Fall Trees. And the rainbow trail that he leaves behind as he surfs on his paint board. The designs for the animals are as typical as any of the singing and dancing animals that you would see in a short cartoon made around that era, but they're still cute. However, the design for the evil Old Man Winter, as scary as he is for younger viewers, he does unfortunately look like a plagiarized knock-off of the Old Man Of The Mountain that Cab Calloway once voiced in a Betty Boop cartoon, from "his long white beard", big nose, rotting teeth, hunchback like design, messy white hair, and "crooked stare"
The character's themselves as simplistic as their personalities are, are still enjoyable. Jack Frost may not be the mischievous winter spirit that many people associate the character with, but he's still a joy to watch for how upbeat, wise, and playful he is. And the bear cub that runs away who is the character that we spend the most time with, is a cute and likable character that never comes off as annoying or bland. When it comes to songs and music regarding this cartoon being that it is a musical, it tells its story fine. But in terms of them being memorable, it's not really the songs themselves that I find to be memorable; it's actually the music that plays in the background. The theme music that's played throughout the cartoon has a nice catchy beat. The music that signals Jack Frost's presence is magical. And the music for when Old Man Winter arrives is fairly eerie. The only song that I remember from the cartoon, that I still to this day find myself humming every once and awhile, is the song that the bear cub keeps singing about how tough he is. That's pretty much it, unless if you count the scatting from the Scarecrow, and the humming from the singing trees as a legit song? As for the visuals gags that appear in the cartoon, much like the gags in "Max Flesicher's Rudolph The Red Nosed-Reindeer" they're played more on a cute and innocent level of humor that flow with the cartoon's world, instead of being played on a level of laugh out loud slapstick.
Overall, after all these years of not seeing this cartoon, it still holds up well. The animation is nice to look at with its colors and designs. The characters in terms of cartoon shorts are likable and identifiable. The songs while not too memorable, do keep the story going, as we are treated to some wonderful background music. And the story and its moral as cliche as it is, its heart is still in the right place, where it doesn't feel forced or half-baked. While there are Jack Frost's out there who are more popular than this one, such as the Jack Frost from "Rise Of The Guardians", and the Rankin/Bass' version of the character. This Jack Frost in my opinion should get the same recognition as the other famous interpretations of this fictional character, just like how I feel that Max Fleischer's version of Rudolph should get the same recognition as the Rankin/Bass Special.
RATING 5/5
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