A Flintstone Christmas (1977)

The Worst Film Ever

good back-story, and good acting

Admirable film.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

When i first saw this on VHS years ago, I enjoyed what would've happened if Christmas was in the Stone Age. The result is a great cartoon that has great music, decent animation, and a good plot, which centers on Fred Flinstone becoming Santa Claus, disappointing his boss at work. Along the way, Fred and Barney travel across the world and finally come home after getting lost in China. In the end, Fred thanks Santa for helping out and his boss decides to keep Fred's job. While not the first Flinstones Christmas themed cartoon (that honor goes to an xmas episode of The Flinstones), it's the best that Hanna Barbera has ever made.

Flintstone Christmas, A (1977) *** (out of 4) Christmas time in Bedrock becomes an issue when Santa Claus slips on Fred's roof and injures himself. Being unable to deliver presents to the children Santa asks Fred and Barney to do it. I've read countless reviews of this film and the majority of them put this film down because it doesn't contain any of the magic of the television show. I'll admit that this isn't nearly as good as even the weakest episode of the television show but at the same time it's hard to deny that there's still some pretty funny stuff going on here. Many of the original voice actors aren't here but that doesn't take away too much as for the most part the new people fits the roles nice enough. Again, the voice work isn't nearly as great as the television but for the most part the actors get the job done. What I appreciate most about this film is that they keep the visual look of the show and to me this is a very important part. I enjoy the fact that they really didn't tamper with the characters very much, although they do make Pebbles and Bam-Bam pre-teens here. Mr. Slate is on hand and of course we've got Wilma and Betty. I think what makes this film work so well is that they don't try to change the humor of Fred and Barney. The original series was wonderful because of the witty dialogue and this was especially true when it came time to insult Fred and his weight. That same type of humor is carried over here and for the most part it made me laugh. There are many great jokes about Fred "fitting" the part of Santa and Barney has many good one-liners. At just under 50-minutes the film doesn't run too long and I think fans of the series should really give this a break. Sure, it's not as great as the TV show but everyone knows they could have tried changing everything up and end up delivering a dud but they didn't.

I'm not really sure how Christmas can exist in a prehistory setting, but I tried not to let this spoil my enjoyment.Fred is roped into playing Santa Claus by his boss for a bunch of underprivileged kids, but the real Santa falls off his roof and sprains his ankle, forcing Fred to take his place.As Xmas Specials go it's certainly one of the better ones. But it gets off to an iffy start when they recycle a song, frame-by-frame, from the dull as ditchwater 1972 Special 'A Christmas Story', thankfully the rest is all Flintstones. And without the distracting laugh track which frequently spoiled enjoyment of the TV show.

It is true that it isn't as good as the classic TV show, which is a wonderful childhood favourite, but A Flinstone Christmas was pretty good. The voice cast do a great job, even those who replaced the original voice actor(ie. Harry Corden replacing Alan Reed) bear strong resemblance to the original voice actors. I loved Mel Blanc as Barney, Blanc is without a doubt one of the best voice actors ever, and perfectly captured Barney's zaniness and goofiness. Jean Vyder Pyl is still great as Wilma, and Gay Autterson also does a good job as Betty, though not quite as good as Bea Benaderet. The character characterisation isn't as strong as it is in the TV show however.That said, the animation is beautiful and stays true to the style in the TV show. I especially loved the image of Santa's sleigh pulled by the eight reindeer. And I loved the music, and contrary to another reviewer I liked the song Wilma sang to cheer up Pebbles. I liked the story too, about Santa(well voiced by Hal Smith) having an accident at Fred's house and Fred and Barney have to continue his run. All in all, I liked it, it isn't as good as the show, but it is nice seasonal fun. 8/10 Bethany Cox