Olive, The Other Reindeer (1999)

During the release of Futurama, Matt Groening creator of The Simpsons made another classic: Olive, the Other Reindeer! With its cute story and beautiful drawing design that looks like it has come straight out of the Vivian Walsh children's book and onto our screens! After falling out with her owner Tim, Olive mishears from her little friend 'Fido' that one of Santa's reindeer 'Blitzen' has been injured during a test flight and may not be able to pull the sleigh on Christmas Eve. Olive sets out to replace the injured reindeer, meeting new people along the way. Meanwhile, after hearing of Olive's plans to save the Christmas Eve flight, a nasty postman who hates Christmas attempts to derail Olive's plans so that he can put an end to the Holiday once and for all. After a few mishaps, Olive eventually makes her way to the North Pole and finally (after a bit of convincing Santa) saves the Christmas Eve flight with the Postman finally getting his just deserts.This is an awesome movie to watch at the end of the year which adults and children will both like.

My wife, 5-year-old daughter, and I ran across this special last year. Seeing Drew Barrymore's name gave me some pause, as she had recently flashed David Letterman while giving him a birthday dance, so I wondered if this special was actually going to be suitable for family viewing, and not some subversive story with a Christmas theme. Well, I definitely over-thought this one: "Olive" was absolutely wonderful, and unexpectedly charming (a very rare commodity these days). Her voice work was heartfelt, and a truly eclectic list of other voices, ranging from Joe Pantoliano to co-producer Michael Stipe (whose experience in cartoons includes his hilarious appearance on the funniest "Space Ghost" episode ever-#17, "Hungry") keeps this story light and humorous. The animation style was appropriate to the story and, apparently, to the source material (I have not yet seen the book). I recommend it!

One of the least accomplished episodes of "The Simpsons" was "Insane Clown Poppy," with Drew Barrymore as the voice of Krusty's illegitimate daughter Sophie. Happily, she and Matt Groening pre-emptively made up for this in 1999 with the charming "Olive, the Other Reindeer," which they executive produced, and which featured one of them (hint: not Matt) as the voice of the title character.When Santa Claus faces a crisis that may mean his deliveries won't get through, lovable dog Olive mishears him on the radio hoping to depend on "all of the other reindeer," and believing that Mr. Kringle is counting on her, she's off to the North Pole with the help of her penguin friend Martini, but with a conniving postman (!) out to stop her. Only Scrooge would not be rooting for Olive and Martini to succeed in the course of this special, not least with the warm and winning voice work (particularly Barrymore as our four-legged friend, Joe Pantoliano cast against type as good guy Martini, and Michael Stipe as one of Santa's reindeer - who has a very funny joke about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer). A good, heartwarming story with computer animation from DNA Productions that looks more traditionally cartoony than the norm, which is not a bad thing here; Drew also does her own singing, and it must be said that she won't be giving Alicia Keys a run for her money - but her scrappy enthusiasm on her numbers ("Merry Christmas After All" provides an oddly endearing blend of Miss Barrymore's slightly flat vocalising and the truly musical Big Bad Voodoo Daddy) only adds to the special's charm. Funny and non-sick-making, this is up there with Channel 4's adaptation of "Father Christmas" and some of Rankin/Bass's seasonal cartoons in the winner stakes; one to tape."Warp speed, captain!"

If you've just noticed 1999's "Olive, the Other Reindeer" in your TV listings (as I did last night)and are checking it out on IMDb, I heartily recommend it. The script and characters do not ring any of the false notes that usually undo other Christmas fare. The cute story will keep kids interested, but is peppered with references and visual gags for grownups.Drew Barrymore gives a plucky-not-sucky performance as Olive, and keeps her character's likability from turning sappy. Joe Pantoliano (Ralphie in "The Sopranos"!) as her shady-but-good-hearted sidekick Martini the penguin is a likeable Runyonesque pal. Michael "R.E.M" Stipe contributes a wry musical highlight in the bar scene. Dan "Homer" Castellaneta makes a fine villainous postman, and the other voice artists too numerous to mention here are also first-rate.The 2D-in-3D computerized animation is highly imaginative but not gimmicky."Olive" is as enjoyable as any holiday entertainment since "A Christmas Story". Like that film, word-of-mouth should keep "Olive" around for many Christmases to come.