The Little Drummer Boy Book II

The sequel to 1968's "The Little Drummer Boy",picks up where the first one left off. In this exciting continuation of the story,set in ancient times,six-year-old Aaron returns to undertake an incredible journey with one of the wise men,Melchoir-to find a man named Simeon who has constructed a set of Silver Bells to be rung to herald to birth of Christ as Aaron struggles to protect the bellmaker's Silver Bells from being seized by Brutus and his Roman Soldiers,who makes their lives difficult and who ends up capturing Aaron and his animal friends in the process. However,it is up to the Aaron and his friends along with one of the wise old man,to save the Silver Bells from the evil Brutus and to help ring in the birth of Christ before its too late.

This half-hour animated special originally aired on NBC-TV as a network special presentation on December 13,1976. This "Animagic" special was produced by Arthur Rankin,Jr. for Rankin-Bass Productions,who were also behind the creation of such perennial holiday favorites as "Rudolph,The Red Nosed Reindeer","Frosty The Snowman",and so forth. Featuring the voices of Broadway actor Zero Mostel,along with the talents of Allan Swift,Ray Owens,and Robert McFadden. Again,Greer Garson narrates the story.

Rankin/Bass sequel to their 1968 classic The Little Drummer Boy. Greer Garson returns to narrate the story, which has the little drummer boy tasked with rescuing some important silver bells from greedy Roman soldiers. As is usually the case with Rankin/Bass, the stop-motion animation is the best part. It's a lovely-looking special. The voice work and music are also very good. The songs are nice, including "Do You Hear What I Hear" and "The Little Drummer Boy," which plays throughout in the background. There's also a catchy song about money that has the Roman soldiers singing and dancing. Greer Garson recites "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." It's a decent sequel. Not as powerful or moving as the original, but pleasant and enjoyable for what it is.

The sequel to 'The Little Drummer Boy' follows Aaron (the drummer boy) with the wise men on a quest to rejoice the birth of Jesus. This time, they are against Roman thieves who make their lives difficult and who end up capturing Aaron and his animals. Although it is a pretty good follow-up to 'The Little Drummer Boy', it lacks the same originality and lessons that the original film has. (This one follows the origins of the song 'I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day'.) I would rate this as a 5/10 as it does go a little bit slow in places, and it seems to lose the plot, but it is still quite good. Catch this on television next Christmas.

If you've enjoyed the original Drummer Boy holiday special, you should check this one out. If you recall in the first story, the hatred in Aaron's heart went away when the baby Jesus smiled at him after playing his drum. In this story, Aaron helps a bellmaker keep his fortune safe from Roman soldiers. When Aaron offers to entertain with his animals for the soldiers, his drum gets destroyed. Just think how distraught Aaron was at the sight of his prized possession going up in flames, but things turn out well in the end.

Unlike the original special, this one mentions Christmas. And if you enjoy the Drummer Boy holiday titles, you should also watch Rudolph, Frosty, and other great holiday favorites from Rankin-Bass.

Little Drummer Boy Book II, The (1976)

*** (out of 4)

Eight years after the previous film, Bass and Rankin came back with this sequel, which is once again narrated by Greer Garson. This time out the drummer boy Aaron is rejoicing the birth of Jesus but soon he must try and protect some Silver Bells from falling into the hands of the Romans. While this film doesn't reach the levels of the original, it remains an entertaining film but I do think that less would have been more. I think the biggest problem with the film are a few of the musical numbers, which just don't come off too well. 'Money, Money, Money' is one of the songs performed that just doesn't take off and it really takes away from the actual story being told as well. I would also say that some of the vocal work in the film isn't nearly as impressive as in the first film but the one exception would be Zero Mostel doing the voice of Brutus. Once again the animation is certainly the high point as it looks even better and I was impressed by the way Bass and Rankin were able to make the film look as if it was filmed at the same time as the original. The story itself is a pretty good one with the obvious messages thrown in for kids.