The Year Without a Santa Claus (DVD, 2006)

As probably my favorite Christmas animated Rankin & Bass production, the 1970s animated version of this story was simply fantastic! So when I saw the line-up of stars in this live remake, I had set a HIGH bar for my expectations. This is why I purchased this DVD via EBay! SO let me simply point out the Good, the Bad & the Ugly in my opinion and you can be the judge. As far as Good: Casting for this film was GENIUS!!! Who better to play Mother Nature than Carol Kane (Taxi fame) & Chris Kattan (SNL fame) as a ladder climbing elf who wants Santa's job? Harvey Fierstein is the Heat-Miser and Michael McKean (Laverne & Shirley's Lenny)is Snow-Miser. John Goodman is Santa and Delta Burke is Mrs. Santa and better still is Carson Kressley (Queer-eye fame) as a constantly complaining, clothing designer Elf. This cast sets the stage for an impressive remake. Unfortunately the Bad comes through the writing. The attempts to modernize this classic, leave it stagnant in the early 90s and a bit on the negative side for a Christmas story. I didn't care for the supporting roles of Jingle Elf (Ethan Suplee) or Jangle Elf (Eddie Griffin) either. I never really developed a warm feeling for either of these two main characters (not that interesting). As for the Ugly: I mean Harvey Fierstein as the Heat-Miser was the right choice (Ugly), but actually recording him singing the heat-miser song = U-G-L-Y! I did enjoy the half-naked girls dancing around him though. Same goes for Michael McKean! I must also say sadly that I never warmed-up to John Goodman as Santa due to negative overtones throughout the story (again, poor development) But, the best thing about this movie was Chris Kattan and Carol Kane! Chris's antics in an attempt to become the new Superhero Santa really carried the story. Likewise, had the writer's simply cultivated the value of Carol Kane's comedy in her role as Mother Nature with a little more screen time, I think, I could have slid my review to the excellent bar. Overall I would rate this film as GOOD /enjoyable for the eccentric adult such as me, but the kids are going to love the animated version a whole lot better!