Frosty's Winter Wonderland

"Frosty's Winter Wonderland" is an animated short film made tor the1976 Christmas season by Rankin-Bass Productions. It follows the first film made about this fictional character that was created in the mid-20th century. The first film was "Frosty the Snowman" in 1969. This film picks up with Frosty returning from the North Pole to visit the children as he promised he would.

And, in this fairy tale story, Jack Frost is a villain. He tries to stop Frosty from coming to life by stealing his magical hat, but gets a wrong hat. In the meantime, the kids help build a snow woman to be a companion for Frosty. When the children go to their homes at night, Frosty gets lonely. Crystal and Frosty frolic in the snow and foible the plot of Jack to make Frosty lifeless. Finally, they win Jack over so that they can all return to the North Pole and let the rest of the world have its seasons once again.

Andry Griffith narrates this story. Jackie Vernon is the voice of Frosty and Shelley Winters is Crystal. Paul Frees provides the voice for Jack Frost, and Dennis Day is Parson Brown.

When I was a kid I had the vinyl version of this show and loved it. Too bad it wasn't included in the DVD version instead of the lame "Frosty Returns".

This is a charming addition to the original and well worth the half hour.

Frosty's Winter Wonderland (1976)

*** (out of 4)

Pleasant short for the Bass-Rankin team has Jack Frost getting jealous that he's never mentioned for doing good so he decides to try and sabotage Frosty's relationship with his soon-to-be bride Crystal. In terms of story there's really nothing too ground-breaking here but if you're in the right mood then it will at least put a smile on your face. As usual the story is pretty simple but that doesn't take away from any of the charm as the entire cast is in good spirits and do a nice job with their vocal work. Andy Griffith gets to sing a couple tunes and he does an extremely good job with them. Shelley Winters is fun as Crystal and Jackie Vernon plays Frosty to a nice effect. Paul Frees doing a nice job as Jack Frost and I really loved the animation they used on his look and movements. The animation is slightly better than what we saw in the 1969 film and the overall Christmas feel is certainly on-hand.

Frosty's kind of lonely, so the kids think of making him a wife, Crystal. But will Jack Frost let them be happy?

While maybe not as powerful or memorable as the original, this cartoon deserves very much to be in the must-see canon of Christmas specials. The team of Rankin and Bass (not to mention Romeo Muller) consistently pumped out good specials year after year. Did they ever make a bad one?

Personally, I like this one better than some of the others simply because it has Andy Griffith, an actor I am quite fond of. With all due respect to Burl Ives and Fred Astaire, Griffith is the kind of guy who excelled at telling folksy stories (even if this was typecasting him).

As I've said Frosty the Snowman is brilliant, it is very memorable and charming. While not quite as good, perhaps because of the slightly routine story, Frosty's Winter Wonderland is still very good and infinitely better than the embarrassment that was Frosty Returns. The animation quality is colourful and vibrant, and the music is cheerful and jovial, as well as easy to sing along. The story while routine perhaps still maintains the charm that made the original so great, and the writing is funny and touching. The characters especially Frosty are very likable, and the voice acting is excellent. Overall, lovely sequel, not as good but very enjoyable and charming. 8/10 Bethany Cox