The Year Without a Santa Claus 1974

[3.2/10] This was surprisingly awful. It’s scattershot even by old T.V. special for kids standards. The character designs are ugly. The original songs are pedestrian at best. The plot is as shaggy and pointless as all get out. The whole thing’s just a giant waste of time.

The one exception on all fronts is the Heat and Snow Misers. Their designs are unique and memorable. Their songs are catchy and fun. They’re playful sibling rivalry is endearing. And there’s even some fun wordplay in their barbs and insults to one another. It’s like they come from a different movie.

But almost every other character in the movie is annoying and/or pointless. Jingle and Jangle are a pair of unfunny idiots. Iggy is a waste of space. Mrs. Claus is the only competent person in the whole film, and even she takes the most circuitous route to solving any problem. And Santa himself just seems like a shiftless grump. (Good lord, Mickey Rooney mumbles and wheezes his way through the part.)

There’s zero good conflict here, and the movie doesn’t so much progress from plot point to plot point as it stumbles around, bumping into whatever snowbanks are around. Theoretically, the point is to reignite Santa’s belief in the fact that people care about him and Xmas. But the answer to that is...snow? I guess?

There is something heartening when the children of the world all come together in an impressionsitic sequence, to give Santa a holiday and show they care. But there’s a big bunch of pointless nonsense between Santa declaring he’s taking the year off and those munchkins trying to treat him to the “holiday” he wanted, thereby restoring his faith in his fellow man. The misadventures of the elves, Mrs. Claus, and the various personifications of nature just feel like filler, especially with the cruddy songs spackled in.

Overall, it’s hard to know how or why this one became such a classic beyond folks remembering the outstanding Miser sections. It’s best to leave your nostalgic memories for this one undisturbed.