Happy Groundhog's Day! - Jack Frost

Rankin-Bass, 1979
Voices of Robert Morse, Buddy Hackett, Debra Clinger, and Paul Frees
Directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr.
Music by Maury Laws; Lyrics by Jules Bass

Rankin-Bass continued to churn out holiday specials in the late 70's, but as those of you who read my reviews for last month may have noticed, some of them could get more than a little odd. What better character to headline a holiday special than the mythical lad himself who is said to control winter weather? They also had the habit of tying other holidays into their specials, referencing Groundhog's Day here along with Christmas and winter in general. How does this hodgepodge look nowadays? Let's head to the unfortunate town of January Junction, just as winter is about to begin, and find out...

The Story: Weather-forecasting groundhog Pardon-Me-Pete (Hackett) narrates the tale of how he and Jack Frost (Morse) came to make a deal to let him sleep for six weeks longer. Jack is an invisible sprite who creates snow and ice. He's happy with his lot, until he encounters the lovely Elisa (Clinger), the daughter of poor farmers in January Junction. After he rescues her from going over the falls, she calls him a hero. He falls hard for her and begs Father Winter (Frees) to make him human. Father Winter agrees to it for one season, sending fellow sprites Snip (Don Messick) and Holly (Dina Lynn) with him.

Elisa, however, ends up falling in love with the handsome knight Sir Ravenal (Sonny Melendrez). She has another suitor in Kubla Kraus (Frees), the Cossack King who claims all the money and building materials in the area for himself. He takes her hostage on Christmas Day, threatening to send his army of mechanical knights to destroy the town. Jack, his friends, and Sir Ravenal go after him. Sir Ravenal is hurt; Jack and the others are captured. He finally gives up his humanity to create a snowstorm that will keep Kraus from sending his knights, but can't keep sending it if a certainly little groundhog declares that spring is here...

The Animation: The designs here are similar to Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas In July that same year, but even more fantasy-oriented, as appropriate for the setting. They actually rendered the snow quite well, especially the glistening ice. The scenes in Kraus' castle are also pretty nifty, as are those thousand K-Knights, and the ones up in the Kingdom of Winter.

The Song and Dance: There's a lot of charm to be found in this unique hybrid of The Little Mermaid and Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. This is my favorite of Morse' several Rankin-Bass roles. He's sweet and adorable as Jack, especially when he first encounters Elisa after becoming human. Frees is hilarious both as the fussy Slip and bellowing Kubla Kraus, one of the better Rankin-Bass villains. Kraus somehow manages to be buffoonish and menacing at the same time, even with him toting a mechanical dummy around. And it's rare to see them try for even a bittersweet ending - this may be their only special where the character doesn't get the girl in the end.

Favorite Number: The opening credits title song is a catchy little tune that shows us Jack at work and how the people on Earth revel in it. "There's the Rub" is a great villain song for Kubla Krous as he describes how he could have been a great ruler in other times and places. The Christmas sequence is set to the chorus routine "It's Just What I Always Wanted" as the residents of January Junction exclaim over the "dream presents" they pretend they have. Hackett performs a nice "Me and My Shadow" in the very beginning as we see just what he does and how important his shadow - and Jack's - will be to the story.

What I Don't Like: While this definitely comes off better than Christmas In July, which came out a few weeks before it, it's still not up to Rankin-Bass' earlier programs. Elisa is cute but is otherwise is a bit dull (though, to give her credit, I think she does figure out who Jack is in the end). Once again, Rankin-Bass tries to needlessly tie a holiday in. The good song aside, the whole Christmas/"dream present" segment seems kind of shoehorned in. In fact, though AMC has run it around Christmas for the past few years, I actually consider this to be more of a Groundhog's Day/general winter special.

The Big Finale: A hidden gem from Rankin-Bass with a catchy score, one of their more interesting villains, and a surprisingly bittersweet tone for them. Whether you watch it on Christmas or Groundhog's Day, it's worth checking out.

Home Media: Quite easy to find on DVD and on streaming.

DVD
Amazon Prime