Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie Review

Rudolph the Red-Nosed

Reindeer: The Movie

Release Date: 16th October 1998 - USA

Production Companies

Goodtimes Entertainment

(presents)
Cayre Brothers (producer)
GT Merchandising and
Licensing (created by)
Golden Books Family Entertainment (producer)

Tundra Productions (produced by)
Rudolph Productions


Genre: Animation/Family/

Fantasy

Rating: G

Runtime: 90 minutes


Budget: US$10,000,000

Box Office Gross: $113,484 (USA)


Plot Summary

Young Rudolph suffers a
childhood accident. As a

result, his nose is no longer
the socially accepted black

but a bright red. Much to
the worry of his parents,

everyone, including his
uncles, the other reindeer
and the elves, all make fun

of him. Even at school,
the bucks and the does
tease him, except for Zoey
(with whom he is in love).
After being disqualified and
banned from the reindeer
Games, he had to leave his
home. There, he met Slyly
and Leonard. But when an
ice witch named Stormella
traps Zoey and summons a

powerful blizzard to put

Santa in his place, it's up to

Rudolph and his newfound

Friends to rescue her and

help Santa save Christmas.

Voice Cast

Kathleen Barr - Older

Rudolph/Twinkle the Sprite

Eric Popisil - Young Rudolph

John Goodman - Santa Claus

Whoopi Goldberg - Stormella

Debbie Reynolds - Mrs. Santa

Claus/Mitzi - Rudolph's

Mother/Mrs. Prancer -

School Teacher

Bob Newhart - Leonard the

Polar Bear

Eric Idle - Slyly the Fox

Richard Simmons - Boone

Alec Willows - Doggie/Prancer

Lee Tockar - Ridley - Stormella's Butler/

Milo the Elf/Vixen

Garry Chalk - Blitzen - Rudolph's Father

Christopher Gray - Young Arrow

Vanessa Morley - Young Zoey

Myriam Sirios - Older Zoey/

Glitter the Sprite/Schoolroom Doe #1

Elizabeth Carol Savenkoff - Zoey's

Mother/Aurora the Sprite/Elf Crowd

Member #3

Cathy Weseluck - Sparkle the Sprite/

Elf Crowd Member #1

Paul Dobson - Dasher/Elf Referee at Games

Colin Murdock - Comet

David Kaye - Cupid

Terry Klassen - Dancer

Tyler Thompson - Schoolroom Buck #1

Jim Byrnes - Elf Crowd Member #2

Matt Hill - Older Arrow/Donner (Uncredited)

Michael Lloyd - Older Rudolph (singing voice)

Debbie Lytton - Older Zoey (singing voice)

Carmen Twillie - Stormella (singing voice)

Crew
Producer/Storyboard Supervisor/

Supervising Editor/Director -

William R. Kowalchuk Jr.
Based on the Story - Robert May
Based on the Song - Johnny Marks
Writer - Michael Aschner
Executive Producers - Eric Ellenbogen
and Andrew Greenberg
Executive/Supervising Producer - Seth Willenson
Co-Producer - Jonathan Flom

Art Directors - Xhang Min-Fang
and Chen Xi-Feng
Character Design - Phil Mendez
Storyboard Supervisor/Rough Storyboard Artist -
Daniel DeSerranno
Storyboard Supervisor - Jean Rogers
Animation Directors - Zhi-Jian Xu and
Sun Zong-Qing

Background Stylist - George Juhasz

Editor - Tom Hok

Supervising Sound Editor - Charlie King

Recording Mixer - Doub Pearce

Songs: Music and Lyrics/Score/Songs

Producer/Music Recording Engineer -

Michael Lloyd

Songs: Music and Lyrics/Score - Al Kasha

Review

Frankly, this isn't the holiday movie that it used to be. It taught me about the 1998 movie RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, as it seems alright for young kids who only put their faith in Christmas cheer. Interestingly, it is the only theatrical release from Goodtimes Entertainment, the company that was known for its Disney rip-offs. While the animation is serviceable, sadly, it does not look like a Disney-like cinematic quality as it is fit for direct-to-video and television. Even the story is flawed, and some of the film's show-tunes are average or forgettable, save a few. One of the few good songs is "Show Me the Light", which could have been a ballad for a Disney animated musical (if you can get past the vocal dissonance of Rudolph). The latter, "It Could Always Be Worse", is a reminder and maybe homage to the one we remember in a Monty Python comedy. It's a good thing it might be Eric Idle, as he might have brought this catchy idea to the film's songwriters. The festive classical song about Rudolph is also there, as usual.

The voice acting is mostly decent. I'm okay with John Goodman voicing Santa. It's delightful that he plays the mythical figure and a father figure to Rudolph. It seems ironic that he would play Santa again, only this time as an evil mechanical version in an episode of Futurama. Featured in the movie is Python veteran Idle and it's so hard to recognise him doing an American impersonation of his fox character. The other notable star, Whoopi Goldberg, provides the voice for Stormella, the female villainous snow queen.

While it has a nice message, the film isn't much uplifting. I probably do not consider it my favourite and only recommend it as a part-time enjoyable festive movie for some families.

Star rating: (3/5) Average

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