"For Better or for Worse: The Bestest Present" is a Christmas cartoon special that was produced in 1985, and first aired on American TV on this year. It was directed by Sebastian Grunstra, who also directed all sequels except from "A Storm in April".
Basic plot: During a rainy day before Christmas Eve, Michael and Lizzie are taken by their mother to a shopping mall. When they return to their home, they discover that Lizzie's stuffed bunny is gone...
Being an IMDb user, I haven't written a single review for a long time, until now when I just happened to accidentally find a somewhat rare Christmas special I haven't seen for many, many years since my early childhood. "The Bestest Present", that is the first of the "For Better or for Worse" TV-specials, is a very cozy cartoon that is suitable for everybody. The animation is very easy but nicely done, and the story is very easy to follow. Now in this afternoon prior to this review, I almost took to tears in one scene thanks to the childhood memories I've got from watching this, when the father comforts Lizzie by singing a goodnight song to her.
In my early childhood, we used to have the TV-special as recorded on VHS, and I think it was dubbed in Norwegian of course, since most cartoons for kids are dubbed in my country. What I have always remembered are: That funny dog drinking from the toilet, the car driving to the shopping mall, all the raining, and that stuffed bunny. But since my English and memories weren't as good as today, I've never remembered the title, until I finally discovered this cartoon today, something that made me happy.
If you like watching cozy animated Christmas movies/specials suitable for all audiences, I'll highly recommend you to find this, and watch this at least once. Some other Christmas stuff I'd like to recommend include: Any Christmas specials from Rankin Bass like "Frosty the Snowman" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", as well as Disney's "From All of Us to All of You".
My overall rating: A well deserved 9/10.
