In Search of Santa

Last updated
In Search of Santa
In Search of Santa.jpg
Directed byWilliam R. Kowalchuk
Written byMichael Aschner
Lee Tockar
Produced byWilliam R. Kowalchuk
Louis Sek
Starring Hilary Duff
Haylie Duff
Production
companies
Colorland Animation
Tundra Productions
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Running time
78 minutes
CountriesUnited States
Canada
China
LanguageEnglish

In Search of Santa is a 2004 animated Christmas adventure film starring Hilary Duff and her older sister Haylie Duff in their first voice roles. It was directed by William R. Kowalchuk, the production of the film began in 1998 as it was originally to be entirely made in hand-drawn traditional animation and have planned to be released in 1999, but then somehow decided to, not only it was switched from hand-drawn to fully CGI, but to be pushed further to be released on August 25, 2004, in Australia and on November 23, 2004, in the United States. [1] The movie was animated using Alias Maya 3D software.

Contents

Synopsis

King Calvin and Queen Penelope have their eggs laid and as their daughters hatch, the parents name them Crystal and Lucinda. As the sisters grow, despite their differences, they compromise and head to the North Pole to find Santa Claus.

They want to save Christmas, which Crystal believes in earlier and all along. After saving a seal in the middle of their quest, both sisters meet the pirates: Capn' Cragg (a walrus), Bugkus Bill (a stork) and a pelican.

Cast

Reception

The film received generally negative reviews, [2] [3] [4] with viewers heavily criticizing its poor CGI animation quality and weak script. UltimateDisney wrote "the film has not succeeded in challenging, engaging, or even entertaining but it is colorful and somewhat lively" and that "the makers of In Search of Santa hope that the appeal of computer animation, Christmas, and the Duff sisters will encourage people to check their movie out." [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haylie Duff</span> American actress and singer (born 1985)

Haylie Katherine Duff is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Sandy Jameson in the television series 7th Heaven, Amy Sanders in Lizzie McGuire and Summer Wheatley in Napoleon Dynamite. An avid food blogger, Duff had her own cooking show, The Real Girl's Kitchen, in 2014. She is the older sister of Hilary Duff.

<i>Metamorphosis</i> (Hilary Duff album) 2003 studio album by Hilary Duff

Metamorphosis is the second studio album by American actress and singer Hilary Duff. The album was released on August 26, 2003, by Hollywood Records as the follow-up to her debut studio album and first Christmas album, Santa Claus Lane (2002). According to Duff, the album incorporates elements of pop and rock music, and it represents changes that are specific to her life and that everyone experiences. Duff worked with several producers on the album such as The Matrix. Others who collaborated on the album include Chico Bennett, Matthew Gerrard, John Shanks and Kara DioGuardi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment</span> Former production company known mainly for animated holiday specials

Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usually done in stop motion animation. Rankin/Bass's stop-motion productions are recognizable by their visual style of doll-like characters with spheroid body parts and ubiquitous powdery snow using an animation technique called Animagic.

<i>Twas the Night Before Christmas</i> (1974 TV special) American TV series or program

'Twas the Night Before Christmas is a 1974 animated Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions which features Clement Clarke Moore's famous 1823 poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas, the opening line of which is the source of the title of this animated special. The special first originally aired on CBS on December 8, 1974 where it aired annually until 1994, when The Family Channel took over its syndication rights. AMC took over syndication rights for the special in 2018.

<i>Santa Claus Lane</i> 2002 studio album by Hilary Duff

Santa Claus Lane is the debut studio album by American singer Hilary Duff. It was released in the United States on October 15, 2002, by Buena Vista Records. The holiday album contains covers of Christmas songs, including "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", "Jingle Bell Rock" "Wonderful Christmastime", "Sleigh Ride", and "Last Christmas". The album also features guest appearances from Christina Milian, Romeo Miller and Hilary's older sister Haylie Duff.

Radio Disney Jams was a series of CD compilations of music that was featured on Radio Disney, a children's radio network.

<i>The Legend of Frosty the Snowman</i> 2005 direct-to-video Christmas film

The Legend of Frosty the Snowman is a 2005 Christmas animated television special film which was simultaneously released direct-to-video, and produced by Classic Media, Studio B Productions, and Top Draw Animation.

<i>The Year Without a Santa Claus</i> 1974 stop-motion television special

The Year Without a Santa Claus is a 1974 stop motion animated Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. The story is based on Phyllis McGinley's 1956 book of the same name. It is narrated by Shirley Booth and starring the voices of Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, and George S. Irving. It was originally broadcast on December 10, 1974, on ABC.

<i>Frostys Winter Wonderland</i> 1976 Christmas TV special

Frosty's Winter Wonderland is a 1976 animated Christmas television special and a standalone sequel to the 1969 special Frosty the Snowman, produced by Rankin/Bass Productions and animated by Topcraft. It is the second television special featuring the character Frosty the Snowman. It returns writer Romeo Muller, character designer Paul Coker, Jr., music composer Maury Laws and actor Jackie Vernon as the voice of Frosty, while Andy Griffith stars as the narrator with the rest of the cast consisting of Shelley Winters, Dennis Day, and Paul Frees. The special premiered on ABC on December 2, 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Claus in film</span>

Motion pictures featuring Santa Claus constitute their own subgenre of the Christmas film genre. Early films of Santa revolve around similar simple plots of Santa's Christmas Eve visit to children. In 1897, in a short film called Santa Claus Filling Stockings, Santa Claus is simply filling stockings from his pack of toys. Another film called Santa Claus and the Children was made in 1898. A year later, a film directed by George Albert Smith titled Santa Claus was created. In this picture, Santa Claus enters the room from the fireplace and proceeds to trim the tree. He then fills the stockings that were previously hung on the mantle by the children. After walking backward and surveying his work, he suddenly darts at the fireplace and disappears up the chimney.

<i>Santa Claus Is Comin to Town</i> (TV special) 1970 Christmas TV special

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town is a 1970 American stop-motion Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions in New York, New York. The film is narrated by Fred Astaire and stars the voices of Mickey Rooney, Keenan Wynn, Robie Lester, Joan Gardner, and Paul Frees, as well as an assistant song performance by the Westminster Children's Choir. The film tells the story of how Santa Claus and several Claus-related Christmas traditions came to be. It is based on the hit Christmas song, "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town", which was written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie for Leo Feist, Inc. and introduced on radio by Eddie Cantor in 1934; and the story of Saint Nicholas.

<i>Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys</i> 2001 animated film

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys is a 2001 direct-to-video animated Christmas adventure musical film directed by Bill Kowalchuk for GoodTimes Entertainment. It was released on VHS and DVD on October 30, 2001. The film takes place after the events of the original special. The film thus revisits classic characters like Yukon Cornelius, Hermey the elf, Abominable Snow Monster, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, who is now famous in the North Pole.

<i>Frosty the Snowman</i> (TV special) 1969 Christmas TV special

Frosty the Snowman is a 1969 American animated Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. It is the first television special featuring the character Frosty the Snowman. The special first aired on December 7, 1969, on the CBS television network in the United States, airing immediately after the fifth showing of A Charlie Brown Christmas; both scored high ratings. The special has aired annually for the network's Christmas and holiday season every year since.

<i>Rudolph and Frostys Christmas in July</i> 1979 American-Japanese feature film/television special

Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July is an American-Japanese Christmas/Independence Day film produced by Rankin/Bass Productions, featuring characters from the company's holiday specials Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) and Frosty the Snowman (1969), among others. It was filmed in Japan using the company's trademark "Animagic" stop-motion animation style. The film was originally a theatrical film released through Avco Embassy Pictures where it ran for only 2–3 weeks and was considered a box office flop. Later that year, the film premiered on television in the US on November 25, 1979, on ABC.

<i>Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey</i> 1977 Christmas TV special

Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey is a 1977 Japanese-American Christmas stop motion animated television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. It premiered on ABC on December 3, 1977. The story is based on the 1975 song of the same name, written by Gene Autry, Don Pfrimmer and Dave Burgess.

<i>The Stingiest Man in Town</i> 1978 animated Christmas television special

The Stingiest Man in Town is a 1978 animated Christmas musical television special based on Charles Dickens's 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. It was created by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, and features traditional animation rather than the stop motion animation most often used by the company. It was an animated remake of a long-unseen, but quite well received, live-action musical special which had starred Basil Rathbone, Martyn Green and Vic Damone. The live-action version had been telecast on December 23, 1956, on the NBC anthology series The Alcoa Hour, and was released on DVD in 2011 by VAI. The animated remake first aired December 23, 1978, in the United States on NBC, and was telecast in Japan the next day.

<i>Christmas Is Here Again</i> 2007 American film

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 Fox Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. 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.

<i>A Miser Brothers Christmas</i> American TV series or program

A Miser Brothers’ Christmas is a 2008 Christmas stop motion spin-off special, based on the characters from the 1974 Rankin-Bass special The Year Without a Santa Claus. Distributed by Warner Bros. Animation under their Warner Premiere label and Toronto-based Cuppa Coffee Studios, the one-hour special premiered on ABC Family on Saturday, December 13, 2008, during the network's annual The 25 Days of Christmas programming.

<i>Angelina Ballerina</i> (TV series) British TV series or programme

Angelina Ballerina is a British animated preschool children's television series based on the Angelina Ballerina series of children's books by author Katharine Holabird and illustrator Helen Craig. The series is about a young mouse named Angelina Mouseling who loves dancing ballet, her family, and her classmates. Finty Williams performed the voice of Angelina and her mother Judi Dench performed the voice of Miss Lilly.

References

  1. Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 146. ISBN   9781476672939.
  2. "In Search of Santa". IMDb . 23 November 2004.
  3. "In Search of Santa". Amazon. 23 November 2004.
  4. "In Search of Santa (2004)". Rotten Tomatoes .
  5. "In Search of Santa DVD Review".