The Year Without a Santa Claus (25 Days of Christmas)

The Year Without a Santa Claus (25 Days of Christmas)

There are two kinds of people in this world; those who like the Rankin/Bass stop-motion specials and those who don’t.  And then, there is me.  I’ve never really known how to view these specials, are they timeless classics or are they cheap and boring?  Something draws me to watch at least one of them every year, and the one I usually watch is The Year Without a Santa Claus, and yet I haven’t really been able to put a finger on why I watch them.

This particular Rankin/Bess film follows a tired and discouraged Santa, who constantly sees more and more people who no longer believe in him.  He makes a decision to skip Christmas Eve this upcoming year, to the dismay of Mrs. Claus and the elves, who attempt to change Santa’s mind before it is too late.  Like the rest of these specials, which only run for about fifty minutes, the plot is kept basic to keep younger children interested, and put less of a strain on the stop-motion animators.

I’m going to preface this by saying that I am sure stop-motion animation is extremely hard work, and takes hours of precision and grace to perfect into the fifty minutes of screen time that are presented.  But, I just don’t see the point of doing this style, instead of just making it using traditional animation.  Traditional animation is less jerky and awkward, more pleasing to the eye, and allows for a lot more movement, and creativity, to be shown on-screen.  Take, for example, a movie like Disney’s Robin Hood, which was released a year before The Year Without a Santa Claus.  Now, imagine if every character in Robin Hood moved very stiff and rigid, instead of the grace that they use in the movie.  Imagine if every character were less detailed, and somehow looked more fake than a drawing.  That is kind of the feeling that you get when watching the stop-motion; that it is cheap.  But, at the same time, it is charming.  It has a draw to it that isn’t found in any other kind of animation, a rugged and dirty feel that makes it seem more human.  It has flaws, and those flaws are pushed through to make a product.  It is innovative and interesting, while also cheap and constraining.

The rest of the movie is very basic, with decent voice acting (except for Mickey Rooney, who is excellent as Santa), and a simple plot about how much people need hope at Christmas time, and that’s what Santa delivers.  The highlight of the film are the songs by the Heat Miser and the Snow Miser, as they both sing about their love for everything hot or cold.  The message about the meaning of the season is heartfelt, a message that everyone should remember around the season.  Christmas is about joy and togetherness.

If the animation style is charming to you, you probably already watch it every year.  If it creeps you out, there isn’t much substance that is going to make you forget about the stop-motion.  It is a simple Christmas tale, and a good one at that.