MrSitcom

I saw this version on TV before I ever watched It's a Wonderful Life. So in that regard...to me...this is the original. I had a really bad copy on VHS for years, so I was able to watch it a few times. But now that I discovered it on Amazon Prime, I finally got to see it again...and in a wide-screen presentation.

It held up well. Everybody's performances were great. Good to see Seinfeld's dad in an earlier role. And I had no idea Christopher Guest had one of his earlier roles in it. Marlo Thomas did a great job.

First off, the animation is beautiful. Very very well done. Possibly one of the best CG animation jobs on a Christmas Special ever! But I have to agree with some of the other American reviews on this board. Santa's reindeer are a bunch of womanizing pigs. One of them stops by and impregnates the star's (Niko's) mother. She never sees him again. Niko doesn't know which of the reindeer is his father, and when he finally meets up with the team, he asks if any of them met a lady on one of their flights...and they all proudly say yes and pretty much tell us that they all impregnate as many deer as possible.

So, Santa's reindeer like to have sex and not a relationship with a female.

Is that appropriate for a Christmas special? Not in the USA. It might be in other TV shows and movies...but come on...a Christmas special...and reindeer that are on Santa's team? Santa represents family and kids, and magic...all that's good...is this special from the creators of "Bad Santa"? At least that was a comedy.

For you Finns that are saying that Americans like to sugar coat stuff and aren't being realistic to the world...um...not all of us are from the trailer-park and make guest appearances on The Jerry Springer Show. I am a father and actually don't have one night stands and actually married the woman I fell in love with and had kids "after" we were married (novel concept eh?). Plus I actually want to have a relationship with my kids. Maybe men aren't that way in Finland, but there are a good portion of us that are good family men in the USA.

Even though the womanizing reindeer part of the story went over the head of my 4 year old, it's really not a message I want her to see at that age...let alone in a Christmas special.

I'd rather her grow up thinking men are good, and not all dead-beat-dad wanna-bees.

What's next? Showing a new take on the Little Drummer Boy and how he was sexually abused by a religious authority figure? That happens too, but not something I want to celebrate at Christmas time with my kids by having it forced into a story where it didn't need to be. I know...what about showing what really happened to the three "wise men" on their journey to Bethlehem? Maybe they stopped by a brothel? Perfect for the kids! Men do that all the time, so it's okay to show in a children's holiday special!

It's a shame this good animation and the voice talent was wasted on this story. A story that could just as easily been changed so that the father was just a "glory hound" or a "workaholic" or even like it's "his duty" (like a soldier that's off at war and can't visit his kids...which is happening now to kids all over). Something to think about.

Apparently I'm one of the few that loved this show. I didn't have high expectations at all. But with each episode I began to love it more and more. And now it looks like it has become a victim of the writer's strike. And I found myself really upset that this show would not return. Then I came here and read all the reviews...mostly negative. I think the ratings were better then average from what I saw, but not a blockbuster. What can you do, but say good-bye. I will miss it.

I thought the "re-invention" of the show was good. I liked that was a little darker, and that we saw some of the struggles of her relationship with her sister and all this new responsibility being thrown on her. I like that there was some back story to her bionic origins that had yet to be discovered. The other characters seemed one-dimensional at first, but we were getting to know them, and they were becoming more likable.

Some of the story lines went a little over the top, but that's okay too. Nowhere near as silly as some of the original shows story lines (Big foot is really a robot guardian from outer space put at a base of a mountain to scare of visitors from finding their alien station on earth).

I like it and thought it was well written, well acted and looked good!