How many of you caught the premiere of "Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice" last night on ABC? Wasn't that a great follow-up to Walt Disney Animation Studios' 2009 Emmy Award-winning holiday special?
This "Prep & Landing" sequel had a lot of fun moments (I particularly enjoyed that series of insults which Noel & Thrasher exchanged. Santa's foremost expert on naughty kids got things started by calling the commander of the Reindeer Stealth Squadron "Bambi" and then by saying " ... I told you if I ever saw you again, I'd put your head on my wall." And Thrasher returned Noel's insult by calling this Coal Elf a " ... hairy tub of cookie dough").
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But for those of us who love Christmas movies and holiday specials, perhaps the greatest throwaway gag of the night came about 13 minutes into "Prep & Landing: Naughty Vs. Nice." Which was when Grace's brief flashback sequence began. And as this city girl describes how her visit to see a department store Santa got derailed when her baby brother Gabriel begins crying ...
Well, who do we see standing there waiting to talk with Santa after Grace's mother hurries her away?
Why, it's the CG version of these two. Peter Billingsley from "A Christmas Story" and that weird kid with the aviator cap & goggles which Ralphie encounters when he's standing in line at Higbee's Department Store. Where Ralphie hopes to be able to tell Santa that he wants for Christmas. Which is (say it with me now) an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle with a sundial and a compass in the stock.
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There are all sorts of clever little touches like this folded into this new Walt Disney Animation Studios production. And if you'd like to learn more about Disney's "Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice" ... Well, I did an interview with Kevin Deters & Stevie Wermers-Skelton, the writers / directors of this new holiday special back in June. Which I just turned into a feature story for the Huffington Post that you access by clicking on this link.
Your thoughts?
My word, this thing was terribly directed. About as unfunny as they come.
I loved it! I was privileged to see it on a big screen at the D23 convention and then listen to a panel discussion about it. I think it was Tinsel!!!
There was a Disney Princesses shirt on Grace, and a stuffed Mickey Mouse as well.
I enjoyed the new Prep and Landing, but I was still trying to calm my rage after experiencing all of the editing ABC did to the classic Charlie Brown Christmas.
I purposely watched it after JHM gushed over the first one so much. Eh, it's okay but not like an annual classic or anything. I recall Jim getting all ga-ga over another cartoon this year which I rushed to watch, and was disappointed in that, too.
The production values are unarguably strong but the whole thing is a little too mechanical magical to really feel genuine in the tradition of the best holiday specials. The parts are certainly greater than the whole in this case.
I loved the original Prep and Landing and this follow-up was pretty enjoyable too.
And hey. Ralphie cameo. How could it miss?
I loved the first Prep and Landing, and I found this follow-up to be pretty enjoyable too.
And hey: Ralphie cameo. How could it miss?
Think the Disney gang'll sneak Rudolph into one of these P&L's someday? Hope so. (But not as a head on a wall).
Hahahaha look at Randy in the background in the second pic!
"Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time"