A Flintstone Christmas (1977)

When i first saw this on VHS years ago, I enjoyed what would've happened if Christmas was in the Stone Age. The result is a great cartoon that has great music, decent animation, and a good plot, which centers on Fred Flinstone becoming Santa Claus, disappointing his boss at work. Along the way, Fred and Barney travel across the world and finally come home after getting lost in China. In the end, Fred thanks Santa for helping out and his boss decides to keep Fred's job. While not the first Flinstones Christmas themed cartoon (that honor goes to an xmas episode of The Flinstones), it's the best that Hanna Barbera has ever made.

Flintstone Christmas, A (1977) *** (out of 4) Christmas time in Bedrock becomes an issue when Santa Claus slips on Fred's roof and injures himself. Being unable to deliver presents to the children Santa asks Fred and Barney to do it. I've read countless reviews of this film and the majority of them put this film down because it doesn't contain any of the magic of the television show. I'll admit that this isn't nearly as good as even the weakest episode of the television show but at the same time it's hard to deny that there's still some pretty funny stuff going on here. Many of the original voice actors aren't here but that doesn't take away too much as for the most part the new people fits the roles nice enough. Again, the voice work isn't nearly as great as the television but for the most part the actors get the job done. What I appreciate most about this film is that they keep the visual look of the show and to me this is a very important part. I enjoy the fact that they really didn't tamper with the characters very much, although they do make Pebbles and Bam-Bam pre-teens here. Mr. Slate is on hand and of course we've got Wilma and Betty. I think what makes this film work so well is that they don't try to change the humor of Fred and Barney. The original series was wonderful because of the witty dialogue and this was especially true when it came time to insult Fred and his weight. That same type of humor is carried over here and for the most part it made me laugh. There are many great jokes about Fred "fitting" the part of Santa and Barney has many good one-liners. At just under 50-minutes the film doesn't run too long and I think fans of the series should really give this a break. Sure, it's not as great as the TV show but everyone knows they could have tried changing everything up and end up delivering a dud but they didn't.

I'm not really sure how Christmas can exist in a prehistory setting, but I tried not to let this spoil my enjoyment.Fred is roped into playing Santa Claus by his boss for a bunch of underprivileged kids, but the real Santa falls off his roof and sprains his ankle, forcing Fred to take his place.As Xmas Specials go it's certainly one of the better ones. But it gets off to an iffy start when they recycle a song, frame-by-frame, from the dull as ditchwater 1972 Special 'A Christmas Story', thankfully the rest is all Flintstones. And without the distracting laugh track which frequently spoiled enjoyment of the TV show.

The Christmas episode of the Flintstones was better than this. In fact aside from that and the Flintstone Christmas Carol, the other two Flintstone Christmas episodes left much to be desired. One big problem I had was Santa Claus. If this was the stone age, and everyone was walking around in there bare feet, why wouldn't Santa Claus? Even in the Flintstone Christmas episode, the Santas didn't have any boots on. I almost saw Santa in this like Gazoo was in the Flintstones -- coming from the future into the past to deliver toys. If Fred and Barney knew what boots were (Fred says to Barney, "Grab a boot"), and didn't question why Santa wore boots or what they were, then couldn't producers have made the Flintstones and their characters wear shoes and boots, even in their TV show? Another problem I had was that Fred and Barney were supposed to deliver toys in one night and made it back for the Christmas Party. I know the sleigh was on super-speed, but even so, the party should have ended long before Fred and Barney were done. Within seconds, the gifts for several countries were delivered. Even the spoiled brat kids were annoying in waiting for Santa. Other than all these problems, it was a fine cartoon, when it ended.