Review of Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (1970) by Bloodmarsh K — 03 Dec 2012

This has always been my very favorite of the Rankin-Bass Christmas specials for its sentimentality and entertaining story.

PLOT:It's Christmastime again, and the children have started sending their letters to Santa. The local mailman (Fred Astaire) sees these letters every year and decides to tell the story of Santa Claus. Discovered by toy-making elves, Kris Kringle (Mickey Rooney) is raised with a determination to take the toys over the dangerous mountain, guarded by the evil Winter Warlock (Keenan Wynn), to deliver to the children of Sombertown. However, mayor Burgermeister (Paul H. Frees) has banned toys from the town due to an injury induced by one. Kris comes to town and learns that he has to distribute the toys in secret. This tale eventually develops into the complete backstory of Santa Claus. It's a good plot executed charmingly.

VOICES:The voices in here are decent for the most part. Mickey Rooney plays an awesome Santa Claus/Kris Kringle. Fred Astaire played a charming part as the narrator as well. The other shiners would be Keenan Wynn as the Winter Warlock, Paul H. Frees as Burgermeister Meisterburger, and Joan Gardener as Miss Jessica. The minor character voicing was the pretty sucky part of the voicing.

SCORE:The soundtrack of songs are pretty dated, but very fun to hear. Such original songs like "The First Toymakers to the King" and "Put One Foot in Front of the Other" are just catchy and fun altogether.

ANIMATION:In today's times, the animation would be pretty bad, but for the time it was made, the animation was pretty good. Even now it's still very nostalgic and unique. Everyone remembers it for how it is.

OTHER CONTENT:This Christmas special runs mainly off charm and cuteness, but it's also nostalgic, heart-warming, and full of good storytelling. This has the power to warm the heart of every Christmas-loving family that has seen it. However, the fact that it makes its base off of cuteness and charm doesn't make up for the missing holiday substance.

OVERALL,it's a great Christmas special with a good plot, decent voice acting, fun soundtrack, nostalgic animation, cuteness, charm, the power to warm a family's heart, and good storytelling, but the minor character voices are pretty bad and the fuel of the special can't make up for what it's missing.