The City That Forgot About Christmas

This is a film by the Lutheran Church, so its purpose is to present Christmas from a Christian perspective. The animation is rather low cost (they repeat motions and images, mouths do not synchronize with the words...), but my family has always enjoyed the humor in the well written story--so we watch this show most every year. My boys especially like the simple minded men who follow the mayor about. These three often repeat the same phrases with the third giving a humorous twist. The songs are also simple, but nicely done, clear and memorable: "you can't stop Christmas no matter how you try" and "chip, chip, chip away." Other than the odd animation (which probably matters most to adults anyway), this is an excellent show for children.

"The City that Forgot Christmas" is a 1974 animated TV short. It's one of a series made by Lutheran Television with a young boy, Benji, and his big sheepdog, Waldo. In this film, Benji and siblings get reprimanded by parents about being careful with Christmas ornaments. So, they decide that they don't want Christmas anymore. Well, when they go see what grandpa is working on, Matthew tells them a tale about a city that forgot about Christmas.

The town had forgotten about Christmas and the mayor and his cronies are all nay-sayers and an unhappy and a nasty lot. Then a carpenter comes to the town one day - it's Matthew, and he starts helping people, fixing things, and telling the kids about Christmas. So, the town turns around, and then Benji and other kids decide they want Christmas after all.

This short has some prominent personalities of the day doing voices. They include Sebastian Cabot, Louis Nye and Casey Kasem.

Since Casey Kasem died a few weeks ago, I've been watching some stuff he did-whether live action movies or animated cartoons-made in chronological order on the internet. So I'm now in 1974 with another animated cartoon for Christmas he did after "The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas". For this one, he voices a frustrated father and a henchman for a grumpy mayor (voiced by Charles Nelson Reilly). The mayor is a character in a story told by a grandfatherly figure who also resembles another elderly person in the story named Matthew who comes to this town to help its people discover Christmas since the mayor doesn't allow it to be celebrated. Let me now say that while its a bit heavy-handed and the visual slapstick scenes are visually clumsy, its still a pretty heartfelt story worthy to be seen by any child who stumbles into this one. So on that note, The City That Forgot About Christmas is worth a look.

This was the third of four animated TV specials produced by Lutheran Television in the 1970s starring the duo of Benji and his faithful sheepdog Waldo. As stated before, these specials were notorious due to its limited animation style and poor writing, but this one is sort of an improvement thanks to a good premise and some witty dialogue.

This special basically tells the story of Matthew, a lonely carpenter who comes to set up shop in a city that is run by a greedy, mean-spirited mayor, who is constantly tagged along by his three annoying aides. Apparently, the city has forgotten the true meaning of Christmas and Matthew tries to spread it to the townsfolk, much to the disdain of the mayor, who thinks Matthew is trouble and wants him gone.

Again, the production company was able to secure big-name voice talent for these specials. This one contains voices by Sebastian Cabot, Casey Kasem, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Louis Nye. It's just too bad these specials have fallen into obscurity due to the technical limitations.

BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM HONEST

In this cartoon two children wish there wasn't a Christmas. Their parents seems stressed and the children just wish "Christmas Would Just Go Away".

When one of the children talks to his grandfather about his wish about "Christmas going away" his grandfather tell him the story about what "Christmas Is" and "Why it is important".

This special is intended for small children. Older children will not be entertained. Adults however should watch it with their children. It is worth watching once