Christmas Is Here Again

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Christmas Is Here Again
Christmas-is-Here-Again.jpg
DVD Cover
Directed byRobert Zappia
Written byRobert Zappia
Marco Zappia
Produced byRobert Zappia
Jim Praytor
Starring Edward Asner
Kathy Bates
Madison Davenport
Colin Ford
Brad Garrett
Shirley Jones
Norm Macdonald
Daniel Roebuck
Andy Griffith
Narrated by Jay Leno
Edited byMichael D'Ambrosio
Music by John Van Tongeren
Production
companies
Distributed by 20th Television
Release dates
  • November 23, 2007 (2007-11-23)
(Television premiere on Fox)
Running time
  • 74 minutes
  • 90 minutes (with commercials)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Christmas Is Here Again is a 2007 American animated Christmas musical-comedy-fantasy-adventure film produced by Easy To Dream Productions, Renegade Animation, and 20th Century Television (via Fox Television Animation), and distributed by 20th Television. The first feature film to be produced by Renegade Animation, it was co-written, co-produced and directed by Robert Zappia. Narrated by Jay Leno, the film features the voices of Edward Asner, Kathy Bates, Madison Davenport, Colin Ford, Brad Garrett, Andy Griffith, Shirley Jones, Norm Macdonald, and Daniel Roebuck, and marked Asner's fourth role in a Christmas-themed film after the 1977 film The Gathering , the 1999 film Olive, the Other Reindeer and the 2003 film Elf , though unlike the latter two films, he does not play Santa.

Contents

Christmas Is Here Again debuted at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis on October 20, 2007. It then made its television debut on the Fox network on November 23, 2007. The film received positive reviews. It aired on separate networks, including Nickelodeon on December 6, 2009, which was aired after Dora’s Christmas Carol Adventure.

Synopsis

Sophiana, an orphan girl who carries a cane, due to being crippled from a car accident that killed her parents sets out to find Santa's toy sack (which is a magical source of toys since it was made from the baby Jesus' swaddling clothes), which was stolen thirty years previously by Krad ("dark" spelled backwards) in revenge after Santa stopped handing out Krad's coal to naughty children. She is helped in her quest by Paul Rocco, one of Santa's elves, Dart, a reindeer calf, Buster the fox, and his friend, Charlee the polar bear.

Cast

Production

Renegade Animation, an animation company located in Glendale, California and known for the TV series Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi and The Mr. Men Show , teamed up with Easy to Dream Entertainment to create Christmas Is Here Again. A small crew spent nine months on the principal animation, which was completed in mid-2006. [2]

Later in 2006, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation announced that they had teamed with Renegade Animation to distribute the film through their 20th Century Fox Animation division.

One of the songs in the film's soundtrack (as well as the film's working title) was "Who Stole Santa's Sack?"

Awards

In 2008, it received an Annie Award nomination for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production (Madison Davenport as Sophiana). [3] Additionally, in 2009, Christmas is Here Again was nominated for the Annie Award for Best Animated Home Entertainment Production. Colin Ford, the voice of Dart, was also nominated for a Young Artist Award in 2009 for Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role - Young Actor.

Home video

The film received its DVD debut in the U.S. on November 4, 2008. The disc contains a behind-the-scenes featurette, cast interviews and "Name the Reindeer", as extras. [4]

Originally, the reindeer on the DVD cover had a red nose akin to Rudolph's. [5] On the final version of the cover, it is black.

Reception

Richard Propes of The Independent Critic website gave it an A and 3.5 stars, calling it "an ideal choice for families, children and for Scrooges like myself who, somewhere deep inside, still want to believe". [6] However Common Sense Media gave the film a 2 out of 5 saying "Small children might like this holiday musical, but they may also lose patience at the 73-minute length". [7]

Stage version

The Pacific Conservatory Theatre presented the premiere of a stage adaptation of Christmas Is Here Again by Brad Carroll and Jeremy Mann in November and December 2014. [8]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Heartland Film Festival information for Christmas Is Here Again". Truly Moving Pictures. 2007. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08.
  2. ↑ "Renegade Animation Completes "Christmas is Here Again"". Digital Publisher Magazine. Digital Media Online. 2006-09-28. Archived from the original on 2011-07-10.
  3. ↑ "List of awards and nominations". 35th Annie Awards . The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood. 2007. Archived from the original on 2012-02-08. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
  4. ↑ Yip, Roger (2008-09-09). "Christmas Is Here Again on DVD". DVDTOWN.com. Archived from the original on 2008-11-08. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
  5. ↑ "Christmas Is Here Again". Screen Media Films. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
  6. ↑ Propes, Richard (2008). "Review of Christmas Is Here Again". The Independent Critic. Archived from the original on 2013-02-04. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
  7. ↑ "Christmas is Here Again - Movie Review". 28 February 2016. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  8. ↑ "Christmas is Here Again". Pacific Conservatory Theatre. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
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