Whether its their Stop motion specials or cel animated movies, Rankin/Bass has had quite an impact on a lot of people’s childhood. I personally think the best of their work is The Last Unicorn.
I like them. I havent really seen anything outside their holiday specials, but I enjoy several of them. I know it wasnt the greatest animation and for some of them the story was hit or miss, but there must be a reason why things like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman are still shown 40-50 years later. I think Year Without a Santa Claus is my favorite.
I have a lot of fondness for R/B! Both the more well-known Christmas specials like Rudolph, Frosty etc. and some of the lesser known work they’ve done. I’ve yet to see The Last Unicorn but I intend to soon. I used to badly wish I could make stop motion puppets like the ones they did, they’re so charming
You know, the stories they have for the stop motion shorts are pretty simple and sometimes don’t make any sense, but I think that’s what gives them their charm; they’re kinda like stories a little kid would come up with.
I love the ones I’ve seen! I personally think that The Year Without a Santa Claus might possibly be their most underrated work yet.
Have you seen the semi-sequel The Miser Brothers?
Oh I greatly dislike the Miser Brothers sequel. Lame! I saw The Last Unicorn a couple of years ago, and I thought it was good mostly, but with some bad writing and very annoying songs. I really love The Year Without a Santa Claus and Santa Claus is comin’ To Town.
I only saw Year Without a Santa, Santa’s Comin’ to Town, the original Rudolph, and the first Frosty. Those ones were all my Christmas childhood. We had the video tapes, cassette and everything. I didn’t see any of the sequels from the same company though. I think The Little Drummer Boy might have been one of the good ones but I only saw it once so I don’t remember. I also saw this Easter Bunny one that has delivery guy from Santa’s Comin’ to Town! Cute but not as good as the rest.
Wow, I never knew they made an Easter one. Weird.
I remember now, it’s called “The Easter Bunny is Comin’ to Town”. From what I remember, it’s a cute story and all, but seeing the delivery guy again was pretty cool.
I’ve probably seen less than ten of the specials but I do like most of the ones I’ve seen. I don’t remember Rudolph’s Shiny New Year being quite as good as the others, and then I didn’t care for Frosty Returns but I think that was a different studio.
Overall, when they’re sequels or spin offs, they’re less good. But that’s usually true of anything.
Oh that’s right. I remember seeing the Easter one. I only saw it once so I dont remember what happened in it. Was it similar to the Santa Claus one where the delivery guy explained the Easter Bunny’s ‘origins’?