Here Comes Peter Cottontail
Rankin-Bass, 1971
Voices of Casey Kasem, Vincent Price, Danny Kaye, and Joan Gardner
Directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr.
Music by Maury Laws; Lyrics by Jules Bass
The Story: Magical peddler Seymour S. Sassafras (Kaye) narrates the story of Peter Cottontail. Peter (Kasem) is a bright young rabbit who is initially chosen to be the new Chief Easter Bunny by Colonel Wellington B. Bunny (Kaye), at least until angry old Irontail (Price) objects. He wants to take over April Valley and end all the Easter preparations, thanks to his dislike of children, and sets up a contest between himself and Peter. Whomever finds the most eggs will become the Easter Bunny. Peter agrees, but not only does he stay up late at a party, Irontail sabotages his alarm clock and lets him oversleep. When Irontail wins by default, Peter flees in disgrace. Sassafras gives him an unusual time machine driven by Antoine the caterpillar (Kaye). They're supposed to return to Easter, but thanks to Irontail's meddling, they keep ending up in every other holiday, trying to figure out how they can give away their eggs.
The Animation: Both of these are done in the "animagic" stop motion style that made Rankin-Bass famous, but it looks fairly different in the two productions. Here, the colors are darker and a bit more saturated, the eyes on the bunnies wider, the characters a bit rounder. It's not unattractive - a scene in the rain where Irontail is announcing his changes has some well-done effects, as do the sequences at Halloween and the 4th of July.
The Song and Dance: One of the best voice casts of any Rankin-Bass special really brings character to this unique story. As well as he does as Sassafras and Colonel Bunny, I especially like Kaye as the hilarious and occasionally snarky Antoine. Price is having a blast as the vengeful metal-tailed critter, one of the few villains in any Rankin-Bass special to not be redeemed, and Kasem makes for a funny and sweet Peter.
Favorite Number: Kaye gets two touching ballads encouraging Peter to not give up on his quest, "If I Could Only Get Back to Yesterday" when they're starting out in the Yester-morrow Vehicle and "In the Puzzle of Life" after Peter can't figure out how to give away his last eggs in the end. "Be Mine Today" is the cute Valentine's Day skating duet for Kasem and Iris Rainer as the girl bunny Donna. Antoine has a really fun number explaining to Peter why he should give out eggs on the 4th of July, "If You Can't Get It All Together, Improvise."
Trivia: This is based on the book The Easter Bunny Who Overslept, by Priscilla and Otto Friedrich. The song "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" was written by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins.
What I Don't Like: First of all, it would have been nice if Rankin-Bass' first Easter special actually focused on Easter, rather than the rest of the holidays of the year. Very little of the story is actually set at Easter. Antoine vanishes after the Christmas segment and doesn't reappear until the last few minutes of the show. This does set up for a nice gag in the finale, but his replacement Bonnie Bonnet (Gardner) isn't nearly as much fun. And the plot really doesn't make much sense. I have no idea how anyone would know he gave away the eggs on another holiday, or how this would count towards him becoming the Easter Bunny.
The Big Finale: Not as memorable as the Christmas specials, but far from terrible. Worth checking out for fans of the cast or those looking for non-religious Easter programming for kids.
Home Media: Can be found pretty easily on DVD, often for under five dollars. The just-released Blu-Ray is currently exclusive to Wal Mart.
The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town
Rankin-Bass, 1977
Voices of Fred Astaire, Skip Hinnant, Bob McFadden, and Meg Sargent
Directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr.
Music by Maury Laws; Lyrics by Jules Bass
The Story: S.D Kluger (Astaire) of Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town is back as narrator. This time, he's delivering mail by train, and all the letters are asking about the Easter Bunny. Seems the Easter Bunny was once simply known as Sunny (Hinnant), an abandoned baby rabbit discovered by the orphaned children of Kidsville. Sunny grows up to be a leader in the town, enough to encourage the kids to sell the eggs from the jazzy Hendrews Sisters (Jill Choder and Karen Dahle) over Big Rock Mountain in gloomy town.
There's only two problems. First, Gadzooks the grouchy bear (Allan Swift) wants their eggs and won't let them pass. Even when they do manage to get around him, stiff Lady Lily Longtooth (Sargent) runs Town as the regent of her young nephew King Bruce (James Spies). Lily hates anything colorful and fun, including rabbits, children, and eggs, and keeps passing more and more laws forbidding them. Sunny has to find a ways to deal with both, and to prove to Lady Longtooth that his Easter traditions - and the fun of the spring holidays - will survive her strict ways.
The Animation: I don't know if it's the print on my DVD or how they were originally, but the colors here are a bit brighter and more pastel than on Peter Cottontail, almost on a par with Rudolph. The characters seem a bit rounder, and everything is softer and more delicate.
The Song and Dance: I'm going to admit, I kind of prefer this one over Peter Cottontail. While the cast isn't as good, the story is just as interesting and is a lot more relevant to Easter. In fact, it's the only Rankin-Bass Easter special to be fully set in the spring, with no mention of any other holidays. I believe Lady Longtooth is also their only female villain, and Sargent is quite effective as the rigid ruler who sees her hold on Town slipping away as Sunny becomes more beloved. My other favorite characters are the Hendrews Sisters, the chickens who make the special eggs. Their numbers may not have anything to do with the story, but they're still pretty funny, especially if you know anything about the real-life Andrews Sisters.
My favorite part is the sequence where Sunny and King Bruce invent the "traditional" method of eating an Easter egg. Yeah, that's how we always did it in my family, too. (And I admire Bruce for being able to peel the shell off like that. I'm afraid I'm not an expert.)
Favorite Number: The Hendrews Sisters are introduced by "The Chicken or the Egg?," a perky query spoofing one of the eternal questions. They also get "Trainyard Blues" with Chugs, the train who ends up carrying Sunny and the others to Town. Astaire's best number is in the finale, where he, Sunny, and the kids encourage Chugs to "Think 'Can Do.'"
What I Don't Like: For all the talking up of how good of a leader he is and how much he's loved, Sunny just isn't that memorable of a character. He lacks Peter's laid-back cheekiness or Kris Kringle's warm good nature. Gadzooks is too cuddly to be much of a threat, even before he's reformed. As much as I love the Hendrews Sisters, neither they nor their "Chicken or the Egg" number really have much of an impact in the plot.
And...yes, it's pretty obvious that this is an Easter-themed rehash of Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, right down to Fred Astaire narrating as the same character and the same opening spiel with the newsreel footage.
The Big Finale: This used to show up on cable, especially The Disney Channel, a lot when I was a kid. I suspect that may be why I like it so much now. If you're looking for a fun Easter special for kids or something for them to pass the time while waiting for people to hide the eggs, you can do a lot worse than these.
Home Media: Unlike Peter Cottontail, it can be found on a few streaming platforms as well as DVD.
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