The Muppets and Michael Caine make for a joyous holiday.
Needless to say, there’s a whole lot to love about Christmas. Even the most stern-hearted can’t avoid the warm and fuzzy feeling brought on by the first Christmas lights, those classic Christmas songs that become background music in every store and restaurant for a month, and, of course, the fact that gingerbread and eggnog can constitute a balanced breakfast.
One of the most delightful aspects of Christmas is the chance to revert to being ten years old. What other time of the year can you wear cheesy socks decorated with bears in Santa hats? When else can you get excited about opening a calendar every day for one measly piece of chocolate? I’ll bet there are still a few of us out there who read “The Night Before Christmas” on Christmas Eve and get a kick out of actually leaving cookies for Santa Claus.
One of the best ways to feel like you’re still elementary school is to watch traditionally beloved Christmas movies. I don’t mean classics like It’s a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street. Lovely as those films may be, I would argue that the true spirit of the holiday is best found in the simple escapades of animated chipmunks and Muppets.
Perhaps the only time all year when my family actually uses the cassette-playing half of my DVD/VHS combination VCR is when we put in the 1977 cartoon musical, A Flintstone Christmas. What better way to celebrate the Christmas spirit than by watching Fred and Barney attempt to cover for the real Santa Claus, who has sprained his ankle on Fred’s roof. Their rendition of the song “Which One is the Real Santa Claus?” is the best scene by far: it shows dozens of variously sized stone-aged Santas.
For a slightly more thoughtful take on the holiday spirit, A Charlie Brown Christmas is the way to go. This isn’t exactly a lighthearted tale, since the normally somber Charlie seems even more depressed than usual by the materialism of the season. In a forlorn attempt to recover his Christmas cheer, our protagonist decides to direct the school pageant. Nothing is more heartbreakingly pathetic than Charlie’s little fir Christmas tree, which helps his friends realize the true meaning of the season. It’s worth watching just for the original jazzy music: the soundtrack to this film is a perennial best seller.
Of course, no catalog of Christmas cartoons is complete without How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The 2000 remake of this Dr. Seuss tale is certainly amusing, if for no other reason than the remarkable resemblance between the Whos and actors Molly Shannon and Clint Howard. Still, nothing beats the 1966 classic, with its neon-green, pot-bellied protagonist. Even Jim Carrey can’t curl his lips, twist his knobbly fingers, or slither along the floor in the same delightfully wicked way. The soundtrack is equally fun, with Boris Karloff narrating such classic tunes as “Trim Up the Tree” and “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”
I’m not normally a huge fan of Alvin and the Chipmunks — watching a grumpy middle-aged guy yell at three rodents with gratingly squeaky voices can get old quickly. But even I can’t resist A Chipmunk Christmas, in which Alvin learns the true joys of Christmas spirit by giving away a beloved golden harmonica. There’s definitely something upsetting about the ambiguously ill Tommy whom the doctors can’t diagnose, but not to worry — the chipmunks’ generosity help him pull through, and everyone ends up happily singing at Carnegie Hall.
Surely many kids have fantasized about creating a snowman that magically comes to life. Two very different approaches to this childhood fantasy can be found in Frosty the Snowman and the lesser-known Snowman. For a typically jolly and lighthearted Christmas tale, Frosty is your best bet. Narrated by comedian and singer Jimmy Durante, this is the story of a snowman’s desperate journey to save himself from melting and keep the magical silk hat that brought him to life out of the hands of an evil magician.
The Snowman is a little more subtle and much more enchanting. Entirely wordless except for the melodic “Walking in the Air,” it is the adventure of a young boy who spends a magical Christmas Eve journeying to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus. The short film has an almost hypnotic effect, with a down to earth animation style reminiscent of sketchbook drawings. Cute though Frosty may be, there’s something even more appealing about a Pillsbury Doughboy-like Snowman who has a floppy hat and big orange nose.
But in the end, there’s really only one Christmas film that gets me every time. The Muppet Christmas Carol is hands down the best rendition of Dickens’ classic holiday novel. It’s not that I have any particular interest in Muppets per se — in fact, their eerily autonomous gestures and indiscernible species can be rather disconcerting. But for some reason this stock of characters forms the perfect cast for this particular tale. Who better to play the depleted Bob Crachit than the self-deprecating Kermit the Frog, with his mopey kindness and soft-spoken air? Miss Piggy is a wonderfully boisterous Mrs. Crachit, and one can even believe that the Great Gonzo is Charles Dickens. Michael Caine puts on a characteristically brilliant performance as Ebenezer Scrooge, and pulls off being the only actual human.
It’s hard not to sing along with the Ghost of Christmas Present, who looks like a red-headed Santa Claus and dances through the streets singing “wherever you find love, it feels like Christmas.” His future counterpart, on the other hand, is downright scary, and the scene in which he leads Scrooge toward his own grave is not for the easily rattled. Of course, Scrooge awakens to a Christmas morning and a second chance at life. Nothing will put you in the holiday mood faster than watching Michael Caine prance through Muppet Town handing out bits of cheese and patting his furry friends on the head while singing about the joys of Christmas.
In the end, that’s really the beauty of this time of year. Everyone from an old British guy to a green hermit ends up acting a little bit like a kid.
Pippa Eccles ’09 (peccles@fas) will be reading “The Night Before Christmas” in her pajamas on Christmas Eve for many years to come.