Rankin/Bass production is a stop-motion film company that specialises in making various Christmas specials and animated films. Though the stop-motion style and low budget has no doubt left many people with traumatised scars, they also managed to stay in people’s hearts, and some have become stables around the holidays. One in particular seems to be named after the famous song, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town. Set in an unknown era, The mailman, also the narrator (voiced by Fred Astaire) presents the children of the world with the story of how Santa Claus came to be; starting off as an orphan left to be raised by a bunch of elves, the baby grows into a young man by the name of Kris Kringle (voiced by Mickey Rooney) who wants nothing more than to give toys to the children of a nearby town. When he arrives, he discovers that the mayor of the town, Burgermeister Meisterburger (voiced by Paul Frees) has decreed that all toys are illegal and not to be played with. Now an outlaw among the town, that doesn’t stop Kris from giving to the children in familiar Santa Claus ways with the help of his love interest, Jessica (voiced by Robie Lester) and a Winter Warlock (voiced by Keenan Wynn). Just from taking a few peaks at this short, its abundantly clear who and what this is made for; this is for toddlers who want to see a Santa story and give a sweet message about the importance of kindness and sharing among everybody for the holiday season. Under that bar and for who it positioned towards, the special holds itself together perfectly fine. There is issue that could be picked apart, but it’s almost a pointless endeavour as its goals are achieved for the right viewers.

The story doesn’t come from any famous Christmas story book or classic fable, instead this feels like a made-up tale created specifically for this short. That’s not to tricky as nothing complex or even that different needs to be in this story for it to work, but a new perspective on Santa Claus is a nice touch for a story like this. Santa has such a famous figure that the idea of changing it has never been done to such an extreme as this one does it, which gives it a memorable element. While the story beats are traditional and even a bit too on the nose at times with how much they emphasise how and why Santa does his work, the special is 100% Christmas. Like most Christmas specials, the heart and spirit of the short is not in the details and specifics or even how it’s told, it’s in the message and the portrayal of said message, and this movie though with a pretty straightforward message of ‘’being nice and sharing with everyone’’, the storybook level narrative manages to get that message across perfectly. Since the movie is solely based around the moral, it doesn’t waste any time and gets straight to the point, it gives kids an important lesson and doesn’t talk down to them in any way. The colors, the visuals, the high spirits, the simplicity, the message about good will, it feels remarkably jolly and truly feels like Christmas.

As a Christmas special goes, its surprising that not many actually feature Santa as the main character, and this movie takes that to the next step by not only having him be the main feature, but also as a much younger man throughout the whole picture. Even if the look is drastically different, the attitude and jolly nature always draws kids back to knowing who he truly is. He’s very likeable in how passionate he is about his work and the lengths he’ll go to so they can have their toys. Also, Mickey Rooney perfectly captures that energy through his performance, with the sense of adulthood but the heart and soul of a child. Most of the other characters are pretty standard, but not harmfully so. The love interest is just the love interest, there’s a penguin sidekick who doesn’t do too much and isn’t too annoying for the most part, and the elf family are simply likeable enough for their bit parts. The villains are the ones with the creative designs and every once and a while they get a funny moment. The voice cast has some good people; Fred Astaire as the narrator is pretty good even though the character is pretty creepy-looking, and Paul Frees as the mayor is funny for the audience he’s directed at.

What makes this film stand out from other Christmas specials is the obvious Rankin/Bass element which is the stop-motion with the puppets and sets. The first striking thing is that it looks creepy. None of them move right, they jerky around like (no surprise) lifeless bodies, it’s too uncanny and cheap to fool anyone and the whole movie could have easily been an animated short and it would have worked fine. While the effort for trying something like this is nice, the end results show a cheapness that can’t be easily hidden. With that said, most of the Christmas colors work pretty well in this style, and some of the backgrounds look nice enough, even if it’s obviously fake. There are moments in the movie where it features some hand-drawn animation style in the background which for its budget looks fine enough, not for a full movie but for the moment in place, it shows that maybe a blend would have been a better option. The film has some songs throughout that are also completely harmless even if they aren’t memorable or even that well written  Sometimes the melodies behind each song can lead to a catchy tune and sometimes the lyrics can rhyme okay, but for Christmas songs, there a bit too forgettable. While the titular song itself has obviously been very famous, it doesn’t feel like it comes from this movie in the first place, so it doesn’t even feel like it connects.

Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town will always be a memorable song, but as a film, it’s a cheap but harmless short for kids to watch before the holidays. As Christmas specials go, others are much more worth your time like the animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas or the Charlie Brown special, but for little kids who want a Christmas waste of time, this one is fine. The visuals can be jarring and overall it’s pretty forgettable, the spirit is clearly in this movie at heart and it features a very likeable Santa for kids to follow, so for that, maybe it’s worth at least one watch. Not a perfect present, but something that might bring someone joy, check it out and see how they tell their version of the origins of Santa.