Frosty the Snowman & Frosty Returns [DVD] [2007] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Well, what can I say about "Frosty the Snowman?" It is another Rankin/Bass treat that has stood the test of time and become a permanent part of Christmas. It is really great to see these classics making their way to DVD. Frosty is a five star cartoon.
The DVD itself is a little lackluster, and I was tempted not to buy it. There is an introduction by Arthur Rankin Jr. that is much appreciated. It is not unlike the introduction he gives on the Rudolph DVD. The real disappointment comes with the second feature "Frosty Returns." This is not a Rankin/Bass feature, and is particularly poorly done. It looks and sounds like a cheap knock-off. I honestly think that they used recycled "Peanuts" animation. It is really bad.
With the wealth of Rankin/Bass material, including other snowman features like "Frosty's Winter Wonderland" or "Christmas in July," it is a shame to see this classic paired with such a dog. Look to "Year Without a Santa Claus" to see a great treatment of Rankin/Bass classics. Here's hoping Warner Brothers picks up such greats as "Jack Frost" and the "Life and Adventures of Santa Claus."

"Frosty the Snowman" is a classic along with The Little Drummer Boy, Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.
"Frosty Returns" is an Eco-terrorist heist of Christmas. It talks about Winter Festivals, Fertility Goddesses, and evil Big Business. Not one word of Christmas, without which there is no point in the story.
The environmental extremism ruins the story. Plus the songs are stinkers. You've never heard any of them on a Chrsitmas album, unless Green Peace has one....
My suggestion is buy the DVD and figure out how to scratch out Frosty Returns so you won't get snow burned next year.
I would pay twice the price to be able to buy the DVD WITHOUT Frosty Returns.

Do not let the double feature release of "Frosty The Snowman" and "Frosty Returns" fool you. Even though the titles appear together on video (and are aired back-to-back each Christmas season on CBS), they are, by no means, a series. The tone of "Frosty The Snowman" differs from the tone of "Frosty Returns." The animation of the two features is different.The actors are different. Most of the characters are different. All that remains the same are Frosty and his song.

"Frosty The Snowman" marked the first animated feature where the direction and production team of Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass used traditional cel animation. As Rankin explains in one of the few DVD extras, Rankin wanted "Frosty The Snowman" to have a greeting card feel - and these characters look like they'd be found on a greeting card. They were designed by Paul Coker, Jr., who had made greeting cards prior to joining Rankin/Bass. The story is based on the song by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins, and is simply and faithfully adapted to the screen by Romeo Muller, who wrote on many a Rankin/Bass project. On the last day before Christmas vacation, a grade school teacher (voiced by June Foray) brings the magician Professor Hinkle (Billy De Wolfe) to school to entertain her class. Hinkle, though, is so inept, he can't even pull his rabbit, Hocus Pocus, from his hat. Hocus comes out while the Professor is messing up another trick. The frustrated Professor throws his hat in the garbage.

After school, the students build a snowman, using the discarded hat, which they don't realize has been brought there by Hocus. Once the snowman has his hat, he exclaims "Happy Birthday!" The children decide he should have a name. A little girl named Karen decides Frosty is the appropriate name for their creation. Hinkle, though, sees his hat is magic and takes it from them. Hocus, hiding in the hat, hops off Hinkle's head and returns to the children. Frosty (Jackie Vernon) spends time with the kids as they play around on the streets of the town. The weather doesn't stay cold, and Frosty knows he has to head to the North Pole so that he won't melt. Frosty, Karen, and Hocus stow away in a refrigerated boxcar headed north, with Hinkle in pursuit. Their intent is to get to the home of Santa Claus (Paul Frees), where neither heat nor Hinkle can hurt Frosty. Santa, of course, is not oblivious to the plight of the trio.

Their tale is narrated by Jimmy Durante, who sets a lighthearted ease befitting the story. He also takes the honors of singing the song for whom the feature is named.He shows how Karen understands the world differently than adults, and how her sense of fair play stands in contrast with the adult world. Karen's encounters with a police officer and a station agent (both voiced by Frees) provide some of the many sweet and amusing moments of the cartoon. My only complaint is that neither the feature nor the DVD release give credit to the young woman who voiced Karen. The credit has been given to Foray, but the veteran voice actress best known as the voice of Rocket J. Squirrel has said it's not her voice we hear. A small search of the internet, including IMDb, did not provide a clue to the girl's identity. Vernon is perfect as the innocent, but fast-learning, Frosty. When he sees that Karen needs to get to someplace warm, he knows he can't start a fire for her. With help from Hocus, he finds a solution. De Wolfe and Frees are also strong in support.

"Frosty The Snowman" remains the video greeting card that Rankin and Bass had imagined for the feature. It incorporates the elements of the song into a story that captures the song's essence. "Frosty The Snowman" is a welcome holiday visitor every Yule season, and will be for many families for many years to come.

The song closes on this note of promise: "I'll be back again someday." In the case of the animated "sequel" entitled "Frosty Returns," that note should be taken as a note of warning. It's not the fault of the actors - they do what they can with this feature, which first aired in 1992. By this time, all of the adults who had done voices for "Frosty The Snowman" had died, with the exception of June Foray. Rankin/Bass was no longer doing animated features. Frosty, apparently, doesn't even return to the place where first created him. I'm not sure how any actor familiar with the original feature might see this working on this follow-up as any sort of honor. Frosty (John Goodman) has been created in the town of Beansboro right around the time the town is preparing for its annual winter carnival. Young magician Holly DeCarlo (Elisabeth Moss) is trying to perfect her magic act for the carnival with her friend Charles (Michael Patrick Carter). When Charles complains that Holly's house is too hot, she opens the window, and her hat blows out the window and onto Frosty's head.

Frosty's arrival, though, coincides with the invention of a product called Summer Wheeze. Its creator, Mr. Twitchell (Brian Doyle-Murray), promises to make snow vanish when people spray his product on it. All of the adults, who have been complaining about the snowfall, welcome the opportunity of a snow-free winter. Even Holly's mother (Jan Hooks) encourages Holly to use it. Holly's not a fan of the product, and even confronts Twitchell about Summer Wheeze. Charles, who is the science expert in his class, has different objections to the product. Twitchell, though, dreams of riches and being crowned the king of the winter carnival. He's out to silence the opposition, and even sends someone after Frosty with a can of Summer Wheeze.

"Frosty Returns" is almost completely devoid of cheer. I live in a city where winter snowfall is a fact of life, but I have never heard as much bellyaching about the snow in my own life as I did in this cartoon. Even Holly's classmates get into the act, as one student says snow shoveling leads to heart attacks, and another welcomes Summer Wheeze as a way to have ten months of summer vacation every year. "Frosty The Snowman" was about the joy of the Christmas season. "Frosty Returns" makes Ebenezer Scrooge look like a happy man. When the citizens of Beansboro aren't complaining about the weather, others like spinster schoolteacher Miss Carbuncle (Andrea Martin) are just perpetually complaining. Given this, I don't know why the narrator (Jonathan Winters), a traveling spirit in love with cold weather, would ever go to a locale like Beansboro. "Frosty Returns" isn't even a lesson about the true meaning of Christmas. It's a lesson about not interfering with the environment.

The animation itself is completely uninspired. Directors Bill Melendez and Evert Brown, who spent many years working behind the scenes on Peanuts animated features, present a community filled with characters that look like rejects from Charles Schulz's famous comic strip. Mark Mothersbaugh, whose composition credits include work on the "Rugrats" series and the films of Wes Anderson, offers up the utterly forgettable "Let There Be Snow." He works so hard to make it memorable, each character takes a verse of the song, offering their take on wintry weather. The script by Oliver Goldstick meanders so far from the song "Frosty The Snowman," we get scenes where Frosty doesn't have to wear a magic hat in order to walk and talk. I suppose a little contact with a magic hat goes a long way.

"Frosty The Snowman" and "Frosty Returns" are as mixed a blessing as someone can get in a DVD double feature. "Frosty The Snowman" celebrates the joy of Christmas, while "Frosty Returns" complains much more than it celebrates the season. The only DVD extras available for "Frosty Returns" are chapter selection and the option to view it in either English or Spanish. Even Sony Wonder and Classic Media, who released this DVD, give more time to listing credits on "Frosty The Snowman" than they do on "Frosty Returns." It appears even these distributors don't think much of this pairing. I have some words of advice for those considering this DVD purchase: think of this as purchasing "Frosty The Snowman" and getting "Frosty Returns" for free. This way, you can consider your money well spent.

As individual features, I give "Frosty The Snowman" five stars, while "Frosty Returns" gets one star.

Originally published on Epinions.com.

While it is a total joy to have the classic Rankin and Bass Christmas classic "Frosty the Snowman", on DVD what is disappointing is that it is unfortunately paired on this DVD with a dour "update", of the adventures of the most famous Snowman in the world titled "Frosty Returns", that is a clear victim of "politically correct", agendas. The original 1969 classic "Frosty the Snowman", is a story beloved by generations of television viewers with its catchy tunes, beautiful animation, likeable characters, and unabashed celebration of Christmas and all its traditions. "Frosty Returns", however is seemingly driven by a desire to down play the importance of Christmas traditions altogether, indeed Christmas amazingly is never even referred to once in the story, being instead replaced by a rather unfortunate "Winter festival". Imagining Frosty the Snowman without Christmas is like trying to picture Rudolph without his shiny nose! While the original has charm aplenty "Frosty Returns", also displays a number of less than charming characters, namely Frosty himself who in this story is more sarcastic and jive talking and far less jolly than in the memorable original. This sequel also has some of the most woeful animation and songs in it that you could imagine which only succeeds in making the original classic shine ever more brightly. Seeing these two features side by side on this disk made a number of decades apart clearly illustrates the often discussed "war on Christmas", that seems to be taking place in our western culture and after one screening of the "update" "Frosty Returns", I know I'll be sticking with the original classic "Frosty the Snowman", which still charms all these decades after it was produced by the legendary team of Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass.

I caught "Frosty Returns" last night on TV. For a while, I was wondering why all the bad talk about the sequel. I saw it when I was in the 3rd grade, and I had no problem with it. Now, after seeing it more than 10 years later, I reached a conclusion: I must have been really been mentally handicapped back then if I once thought that this was passing for entertainment!

I should begin with the original "Frosty the Snowman" (haven't seen "Frosty in Wonderland", so I can't comment on that). It may not be as well written as the other holiday classics like "Rudolph", "The Small One", or the Peanuts special, but it has just as much heart as the others. The scene where the little girl weeps after the snowman melts in the glasshouse is just as touching as Linus' recitation of the Bible verse in the Peanuts special. The animation is crisp, the voice acting is excellent (particually Billy De Wolf) and the songs are catchy. It's a holiday classic in its own right.

Before tearing into "Frosty Returns" a new one, I would like to begin by saying some of the good things from the otherwise dismal half-hour. The voice-actors in this are very talented-particually SNL veteran Jan Hooks as the mother. Johnathon Winters, Brian-Doyle Murray, Andrea Martin and John Goodman were all ok. Even the kid actors weren't irritating. The "SchoolHouse Rock"-like animation was all right, and even lovely in some areas (although Johnathon Winters elf-like character is kinda creepy ). And sometimes (but certainly not all the time!)the music by Mark Mothersbaugh is above average.

But boy, does this thing reeks with political correctness and stale writing. Frosty returns, only this time instead of lightening up Christmas for the kids, his comeback consists of shoving down some eco-terrorist agenda down our throats. He and his followers battle against the community's attempt to rid snow from thier city, which is aided by a snow-depletion product made from an evil corporate boss (you can tell he's evil by the fact of how old and ugly he is, and the devilish cat that follows him everywhere. Subtlety is not this special's strongpoint). While this is taking place, no holiday, certainly not Christmas, is mentioned. Instead the town is excited about the "Winter Festival". Blech.

First of all, I side with the adults in this production. Sure, snow is great, but isn't it dangerous when it's laying around on the street waiting to cause car accidents? That's a noble cause to me. Plus, who really needs snow to celebrate Christ-oops, I mean, the "Winter Festival"? The lack of snow doesn't hinder Florida nor any other dry state from celebrating the holidays. What a stupid conflict for a movie.

That's not all; John Goodman's song at the end is sure to make ears bleed (who the hell thought he could sing?!). The slapstick by the bad guy and the adults would make the Three Stooges roll over their respective grave. The irresponsible sub-plot of the little girl sticking the Snowman in the fridge (and then having the snowman walk away unharmed and cracking a joke about the experience. I wonder how many kids killed themselves repeating this stunt). The nadir of "Frosty Reurns" for me happens when the evil corporate boss "raps" to a constipated beat about his intention of ruining the "Winter Festival". Yes, you read right. He raps. Excuse me while I spew.

Throughout all this, I kept wondering who would let anyone desecrate the memory of Frostly like this. Then the credits rolled, and up on my screen was "Executive Producer-Lorne Micheals". Hey, I got an idea: Let's have Micheals replace every Rankin-Bass production with his P.C. versions!

"Tune in next year, when Lorne Micheals' 'Rudolph Returns', starring Tina Fey as the new voice for the reindeer, permanantly replaces the Rankin-Bass original! Happy Winter Festival!"