Review of Jack Frost

The Rankin-Bass production company made some amazingly good and timeless television specials. However, after completing their Santa trilogy ("Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer", "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and "The Year Without a Santa Claus"), the studio continued making stop-motion specials....but with diminishing returns. This was mostly because Santa was a compelling character and instead of continuing to make Santa films, they branched off to lesser holidays and characters...with mostly poor results. The trilogy were all classics...but the follow-ups were poor by comparison...and often featured bizarre characters. One of the stranger of these later characters was Jack Frost...and it's a show that really isn't all that good.

The plot is in many ways reminiscent of the Christmas trilogy...particularly "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and "The Year Without a Santa Claus" but this time the lead is Jack Frost. He apparently has fallen in love with a girl who lives in a Russian version of Burgermeister Meisterburger's town...and the baddie is also voiced by Paul Frees. I could say more about it...but don't think it really matters.

The animation quality is very nice. The story and writing are derivative AND bizarre...and the pairing of Jack Frost with the Groundhog was pretty weird. A confusing and strange film...well made but terribly written....and featuring very forgettable characters.