Rotten Tomatoes score: 69%
This strange children's Christmas adventure stars Rebecca Harrell as young Jessica, a child who discovers a magic reindeer. It also stars Sam Elliot as himself.
Jessica is a sweet, pious young child in a rural locality. Her mother has been killed by a plot device, and her father John (Sam Elliot) is a struggling farmer. Unable to make ends meet, John is planning to give temporary custody of Jessica to his late wife's sister. Also along for the ride is Cloris Leachman as a bitter old shrew who hates children and wants to be left alone. Wouldn't it be incredible if she turns out to have a heart of gold, and she ultimately becomes a friend to young Jessica? It would blow my mind if that happened.
Jessica is a devout believer in Santa, because she considers belief in Santa to be a necessary corollary of belief in heaven (where her late mother is). Her best friend is a skeptic, but Jessica is steadfast in her Santa-based religious convictions. Their schoolteacher tells them some Bible story that I have never heard about how animals get superpowers when the full moon coincides with Christmas Eve, or something like that.
On her walk home from school, Jessica witnesses a wooden reindeer (reindeer # 3, Prancer) fall from a Christmas display and cause a minor traffic accident. Later that night, she encounters a real live reindeer in the woods, and inexplicably concludes that it is the same one. Prancer is injured, and John rather hastily concludes that it is doomed, and he'd better put it out of its misery. Jessica protests, but Prancer manages to escape.
The fun really begins when Jessica brings Prancer into her father's shed to care for him. She guilts a curmudgeonly veterinarian (Abe Vigoda[!]) into caring for the reindeer, and resolves to earn enough money to buy it some provender. She offers to do housework for Cloris Leachman, who pays her fifteen dollars, exactly the quoted price for a bag of oats. At the same time, Cloris's cold heart warms to the presence of this child whose legal guardians know nothing of her location.
Jessica also details her exploits in a secret letter she gives to a mall Santa, demanding that he transmit it to the real Santa. Instead, he delivers it to the editor of the local paper, who publishes an editorial in a very self-conscious reference to "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus" (which is referenced a number of times in the movie).
Some children, having read the editorial, sneak into the shed to visit Prancer. Jessica is still unaware of the editorial, so she blames her agnostic best friend. Then Jessica threatens to murder the other children with a sickle, so they run away. By this point, the cat is out of the bag, and once John learns about the reindeer, he falls right back on his original plan to shoot it. A local butcher steps in and offers to pay top buck for it, and John agrees. Fearful that the butcher will kill and eat Prancer, Jessica insists on freeing him to go back to the North Pole.
Jessica's rescue attempt results in her suffering a fatal head injury. Actually, she survives, but she is very depressed while she recuperates. John attempts to cheer her up by telling her that the family has no money and will probably lose the farm, but that if he loses Jessica, he will lose his will to live. Remarkably, Jessica does not find this uplifting. However, she takes greater comfort in learning that all the neighbors have come to visit and to return Prancer to the family.
John tells Jessica that she will not have to move to her aunt's house, and together they take Prancer up to a place called Antler Ridge so Santa can retrieve him. At this point, you might expect the movie to end in a sort of ambiguous way, with Jessica perceiving some kind of sign that she interprets as evidence of Santa's existence, with the audience left to make up its own mind. But no, we very clearly see Santa come and rescue Prancer, and there is no doubt that it's really him. So there you go, Santa exists.
This is the most depressing Christmas movie I can recall. The ending is supposed to be uplifting, but this family is still doomed to financial ruin. But hey, Santa!
Anyway, I didn't particularly care for this movie, so I'm tempted to call it Overrated. But you know, if Sam Elliot can believe in Santa Claus, it can't be all bad.
And now, the True Meaning of Christmas:
1. You should never shoot a reindeer.
Would it have died if he shot it? Can Santa's reindeer die? It did somehow get injured, so I guess it's a mortal being. Would Sam Elliot have had to become the new Prancer?
2. Kindly old neighbors have hearts of gold.
At least for one or two scenes they do.
3. Animals acquire the gift of flight when there is a full moon on Christmas Eve.
Look it up!
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