Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh

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Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh
Merry Christmas Drake Josh DVD.jpg
DVD cover
GenreChristmas comedy
comedy-drama
Created by Dan Schneider
Written byDan Schneider
Steven Molaro
Directed by Michael Grossman
Starring Drake Bell
Josh Peck
Miranda Cosgrove
Bailee Madison
David Pressman
Kimbo Slice
Henry Winkler
Jerry Trainor
Yvette Nicole Brown
Nancy Sullivan
Jonathan Goldstein
Theme music composer Backhouse Mike
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Producers Scott McAboy
Amy Sydorick
Drake Bell
Josh Peck
Cinematography Marvin V. Rush
EditorsCharles Bornstein
Marc Lamphear
Running time94 minutes
Production companies Schneider's Bakery
Nickelodeon Productions Pacific Bay Entertainment
Original release
Network Nickelodeon
ReleaseDecember 5, 2008 (2008-12-05)
Related
Drake & Josh
Drake & Josh Go Hollywood

Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh (also known as Drake & Josh: Best Christmas Ever) is a 2008 American Christmas comedy television film based on the Nickelodeon sitcom Drake & Josh . Drake Bell, Josh Peck, Miranda Cosgrove, Nancy Sullivan, and Jonathan Goldstein reappear as their respective characters, with several recurring characters from the TV series also reappearing. The movie aired on Nickelodeon a year after the show's original end in 2007. [1] The film premiered on December 5, 2008, as a Nickelodeon Original Movie. It was the third most viewed TV movie on cable behind High School Musical 2 and Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie , both owned by Disney Channel.

Contents

Plot

As Christmas approaches, Walter and Audrey leave for a tropical vacation, leaving their kids, Drake, Josh, and Megan, alone at home. Drake plans to hold a party on the roof of Josh's workplace, the Premiere Theater. Josh's boss, Helen, approves on the condition that Drake dresses as Santa at the mall. While hiding from a woman looking to kiss him, Drake accidentally makes an unbreakable promise to a little girl named Mary Alice to give her family the best Christmas ever.

The party is crashed by uninvited guests whom Josh calls the cops on, but a mix-up results in Josh getting arrested. He bonds with his cellmate, Bludge, who pretends to beat Josh up to maintain his tough-guy image in front of the other convicts. Knowing he must fulfill his promise after Mary Alice tells him about her sick foster mom and busy foster dad, Drake attempts to break out Josh to help him, only to get caught and arrested. Acting as Drake and Josh's lawyer, Helen informs the judge of Drake's promise to Mary Alice, who decides they will not be sent to jail as long as they fulfill it. Afterwards, they meet their cruel and embittered parole officer, Perry Gilbert, who says he will take a vote from Mary Alice's foster family if they had the best Christmas ever; if any of them vote “no,” Drake and Josh go back to jail.

The duo meets Mary Alice's foster family, which includes frequently feuding twins Lily and Violet, foreign boy Zigfee who speaks an unknown language, know-it-all Trey, and Mary Alice's rebellious, loner older brother Luke. Gilbert sabotages the duo's attempts to give Mary Alice's family the best Christmas ever, so Drake bribes Megan with his friend Trevor's rare Royal Smith oboe passed down from his grandfather. Megan agrees but reneges upon discovering it was a fake.

After receiving several more tickets from Gilbert, the brothers find that he wanted a live pet chimpanzee for Christmas when he was a child, but when he finally got one, it attacked and urinated on him before fleeing, causing him to hate Christmas ever since. Drake and Josh then attempt to get the children into caroling, leading them to enter a Christmas parade Drake had shunned earlier. At the parade, Gilbert tricks Josh's co-worker Crazy Steve into loudly reminding them to keep their promise or else they'll be arrested; believing Drake and Josh were only being nice to avoid punishment, Mary Alice and her family leave, heartbroken.

Still determined to keep their promise, Drake and Josh borrow Steve's woodchipper (“Sally”) to make it snow in front of Mary Alice's house by putting ice in the machine. However, they inadvertently shoot large chunks across the neighborhood. In trying to stop the machine, the brothers are knocked unconscious but are brought home by Gilbert, who was secretly gifted a nice chimpanzee by Josh and began to love Christmas again.

The brothers enter the living room the next morning, where Mary Alice's family surprises them, having learned the truth from Gilbert. Everyone votes “yes,” and the charges against Drake and Josh are dropped. Bludge, dressed as Santa, comes down the chimney to deliver gifts to everyone, including a real Royal Smith oboe for Megan. Walter and Audrey return home from their vacation, which turned out to be at a small dilapidated hut that blew away in a tropical storm. Steve gets Sally to make snow using hard cheese, and everyone enjoys Christmas by playing in the “cheese snow.”

Cast

From the TV show

The show's vast majority of recurring characters returned for the special, all played by their original actors. Crazy Steve takes a more major role in this film, having a larger role in the film than Audrey or Walter.

CharacterActor/Actress
Drake Parker Drake Bell
Josh Nichols Josh Peck
Megan Parker Miranda Cosgrove
Crazy Steve Jerry Trainor
Audrey Parker Nichols Nancy Sullivan
Walter Nichols Jonathan Goldstein
Mindy Crenshaw Allison Scagliotti
Eric Blonnowitz Scott Halberstadt
Craig RamirezAlec Medlock
Helen Dubois Yvette Nicole Brown
Gavin Mitchell Jake Farrow
Mrs. Hayfer Julia Duffy

Movie only

These characters all have a larger role than most characters, second only to Drake, Josh, and Megan.

CharacterActor/Actress
Mary Alice Johansson Bailee Madison
Luke Johansson Devon Graye
LilyCamille Goldstein
VioletCosette Goldstein
TreyDaven Wilson
ZigfeeDavid Gore
Bludge Kimbo Slice
Judge Newman Henry Winkler
Officer Perry J. GilbertDavid Pressman

Music

The opening theme for the movie entitled "Christmas Promise" was composed and performed by Drake & Josh series composer Backhouse Mike. Miranda Cosgrove did a cover of "Christmas Wrapping", and the song became the single of the movie, but no soundtrack was released. The cast featuring Drake Bell, Josh Peck, and the kids do a cover of "12 Days of Christmas" in the movie. Drake Bell made a music video for his cover of "Jingle Bells" which promoted the movie and can be seen on the DVD.

Home media

The film was released on DVD on December 19, 2008. [2]

Nielsen ratings

The premiere of Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh broke the record of most viewers for the premiere of a Nickelodeon Movie with 8.10 million viewers, [3] a title previously held by iGo to Japan .

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References

  1. Robert Lloyd (December 5, 2008). "Drake & Josh: Take 'em or leave 'em". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  2. "Merry Christmas, Drake and Josh!". Amazon.
  3. "Nickelodeon's Merry Christmas Drake & Josh Ranks as Week's Top Cable Entertainment Program with 8.1 Million Total Viewers, Number-One TV Telecast with Kids and Tweens". Webwire. Webwire. Retrieved 10 February 2023.