Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979)

Touches You

Sick Product of a Sick System

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The King of the North Pole, Winterbolt, ruled ruthlessly with his Ice Scepter. Lady Borealis casts a spell putting him to sleep for many winters. Santa Claus arrives to built his toy factory. Borealis fades and Winterbolt wakes. He aims to get rid of Santa Claus by stopping him from delivering his toys. Borealis leaves her last magic onto the nose of baby Rudolph the reindeer. With Rudolph, Santa is able to defeat the fog laid down by Winterbolt's Snow Dragons. Winterbolt has an elaborate plan to lure Rudolph out of the north and extinguish his magic nose. Ice cream man Milton arrives on his balloon who convinces Rudolph and Frosty to go save the circus. Milton is in love with circus owner Lily Loraine's daughter Lainie. Winterbolt gives amulets to keep the Frosty family from melting until 4th of July ends. Winterbolt sends sneaky reindeer Scratcher south to lead Rudolph astray.This is a mashup of the Christmas characters from a few different specials. I don't like the circus idea or a lot of the convoluted story. I wish the story is simpler and more natural. I do like Rudolph's dilemma. It is a touching moment. In the end, this is Rudolph and Frosty together. It's good family fun over the holidays.

I truly believe that most of the negative reviews are just a result of people jumping on the bandwagon about "the Rankin and Bass special we're not supposed to like." One might ask then, why did it "flop" at the box office? It sounds like it was very poor marketing to have released it in July. Just because the story was set in July does not change the fact that it is a Christmas story in every sense of the word and should be shown at Christmas time. That was a tactical error which caused it to fail, obtain a bad reputation, and now everyone just agrees that it's bad without thinking for themselves. Judged on its content, it's a great story and the complaints against it make little sense. For one thing, it's a major mistake to compare this to the earlier Rankin and Bass specials, as if this movie was somehow made to be in competition with them. It was obviously created to complement them and it does an excellent job of it. Secondly, it is a delightful, heartwarming movie that anyone with a soul should enjoy. Thirdly, the movie does a very clever job of incorporating the many favorite Rankin and Bass specials together and reinforces the idea that it is all in one universe. It provides closure to many aspects of the specials, such as Frosty and Crystal's life and family together, their ongoing friendship with their former advisory Jack Frost, Rudolph's origin, and many other details. It even subtly explains Santa's more idiosyncratic behavior in past specials, such as his grumpiness in Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer and self-pity in Year Without A Santa Clause. He says to Mrs. Santa Clause, "I'm not the easiest man to get along with" and she says, "Only when it gets close to Christmas Eve." It's really a very significant special and it's a shame that it's lost on some. So, folks, watch this delightful Christmas movie, don't be influenced by the hate that others have directed towards it, avoid holding it to crazy standards that no other fantasy movie would be held to, just lighten up, sit back, and enjoy Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July with an open mind and a happy heart.

*CONTAINS SPOILERS*This special cannot seem to make up it mind as to which holiday it is supposed to geared to. The main focus is on Christmas and the 4 of July idea seems to come out of left field. Also Rankin/Bass reuse the mailman character from "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" creating tons of confusion if you had seen the previous special. Adding to the confusion is that the Rankin/Bass claymation Christmas specials up to this point could be woven into a kind of continuity: "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" , then "Year Without a Santa Claus", followed by "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", and finally "Rudolph's Shiny New Year."This doesn't fit into ANY of that and in fact contradicts some ideas in those specials.The biggest problem though is the villain Winterbolt. In contrast to other Rankin/ Bass villains (preredemption Winter Warlock for example) he doesn't look the part. Furthermore when Lady Boreal imprisons him for being 'evil' it not exactly detailed on what he was doing that warranted such treatment (This also ignores the Winter Warlock presented in the 1970 Rankin/Bass "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" which delt with Santa's origin.)When Lady Boreal power weakens and Winterbolt wakes up he learns of Santa Claus' existence and decides to rule the world by taking Santa's place. This is where Winterbolt's second problem comes up; he can't seem to make decisions on his own and as a result continually asks his Snow Genie for advice. It is in following this advice that Winterbolt does his 'evil'. As a result Winterbolt comes of as a pathetic pawn of the Snow Genie rather than the strong willed villain he is supposed to be and certainly not deserving of the fate he has at the end of the film.

Okay, I'm a big fan of all that is Rankin/Bass, so I'm a little biased in enjoying this film. I got to watch this film on a cold winter day, huddled up in some blankets and reconnect with some old TV X-mas friends from winter's past. First of all it was nice to see Frosty and his clan finally made into clay-mation form. The Frosty cartoons are great, but clay-mation makes it more original and unique. Plus all the guest appearances by Big Ben, Jack Frost, Santa and Mrs. Claus from previous Rankin/Bass specials. Sure it is a long (over an hour and a half), but you do find the true origin of Rudolph's shiny nose!