12 Tiny Christmas Tales

This past holiday season I was flicking around the cable stations and stumbled across this cartoon. It makes "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" seem like a nice story. Only Bill Plympton could come up with such a bizarre set of short stories and animate them. Not every one was a gem, but there are enough to make this worth seeing... if you enjoy the bizarre.

A dulcet-toned grandmother tells three children some unorthodox Yuletide tales in this beautifully bizarre cartoon by Bill Plympton. While none of these tales is offensively strange, they do deviate from the standard feelgood fare of the season. Highlights include a happy little ditty about a lovelorn snowman, the hilarious horror-story retelling of `The Twelve Days of Christmas,' and the grandmother's unflappability as she rattles off tale after tale after tale. Despite the strangeness, the cartoon maintains a sense of warmth, jollity, and innocence. I highly recommend it as an off-the-wall Christmas cartoon.

It is a weird drawing style, I would say horribly drawn, but that'd imply that I don't like it

The stories have absolutely no good message or value, but they ARE xmasy and are a laugh

I'd say it is not the a xmas cartoon that should be on someone's viewing list, but in comes the nostalgia factor, this cartoon was televised in CN and I bet it brings fond memories to most of us

So all in all, this cartoon is an ok cartoon to have a laugh in xmas if not for any kind of nice value, though considering we are living the attack of the SJWs, this falls short of that, so yeah, it is a good one to see in the couches, in front of the fire with the family and reminisce.

This is a totally twisted and weird film. It's animated by Bill Plympton with his wonderful colored pencil drawings and watercolors and is great for strange children or adults.

The tales are all strung together by an insane cartoon grandmother telling her grand kids stories about Christmas. The problem is that the lady is truly out to lunch and none of her stories have nice morals or make much sense--which is what I loved about this. Don't look for any deeper meaning--just enjoy the nonsense from start to finish. Some sick examples are telling stories to the kids about killer snowflakes, talking presents and veggies that are all lamenting their horrible fates when they become Christmas dinner! Among the weirdest and stupidest cartoons I've even seen and I like that. They aren't as violent as some of Plympton's cartoons I've seen--just bizarre. However, I know this certainly isn't for all tastes.

If your idea of Christmas cartoons is Frosty the Snowman or (GAAAK!!!) Pac-Man Christmas, this probably won't appeal to you, run quickly from the room with your eyes closed lest you damage your retinas with a glimpse of madness! If, however, Twisted Christmas is on your favorite Christmas music list, step right up and take a gander at this little jewel. Plympton is what Orson Welles would have been like with Ed Wood's strange bent of mind mixed with his genius. Some of these are mildly interesting, but most are great and the framing story is inspired! An unusually charming ending with a real curve to it, not what I expected. In other words, just what Plympton is great at-keeping you guessing. Kudos to Cartoon Network. Well worth seeing. Most highly recommended.