Jack Frost (1979)
Article 5889 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-23-2020
Directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr.
Featuring the voices of Buddy Hackett, Robert Morse, Paul Frees
Country: USA
What it is: Holiday special, Rankin-Bass style

Jack Frost falls in love with a beautiful girl, and asks to be made human so he can woo her. However, he has to defeat a local tyrant, Kubla Krause.

Though I’ve covered a few of their feature films, Rankin-Bass is mostly famous for their holiday TV specials; in particular, two of their Christmas offerings have become perennial favorites. Though this one could have been lumped in with them, it’s more obscure; in fact, if it’s geared to any holiday, it would be Groundhogs Day, which, in terms of cultural holiday heft, can’t compare with Christmas. It’s entertaining enough; it’s pretty much modeled after their other holiday specials, only the characters aren’t quite as memorable; the hero isn’t quite as engaging, the villain isn’t quite as fun, and the music doesn’t quite stick in the memory. Still, it does have a few inventive touches. Its relative obscurity is probably due to the fact that it doesn’t quite attach itself as memorably to its holiday as the other specials did.