I've seen quite a few bad Christmas specials like "The Night B4 Christmas", but I don't think it has anything on the sheer awfulness of "The Christmas Tree". It's everything wrong with a Christmas special and would turn even the most joyous man into a bitter Grinch after seeing this stinker.
The plot centers around a rundown daycare, where a woman by the name of Mrs. Mavilda is making the kids' miserable because she is really strict on them. The children's' only friend is a tree named Mrs. Hopewell, albeit all they do is stare at it everyday, but that's the least of this movie's problems. So when a new assistant arrives, named Lily, and her two kids, they all try to teach them about Christmas.
So what's so wrong with this movie? The premise is pretty mediocre, but that doesn't matter at the end when a good story with a good moral is done like in every other Christmas special right? Wrong. Very, very wrong.
First off, the artwork and animation is beyond hideous and sloppy. While the sets and backgrounds look decent enough, the character designs are horrible. Everyone's eyes and facial expressions are guaranteed to give kids nightmares and creep adults out. They all have blank, soulless eyes and sinister smiles and I feel that they're going to steal my soul. The animation is no better at all, it's even worse actually. The lip syncing is so off key, that it's like watching sock puppets try to talk. Every bit of dialogue never seems to match the lip movements of the characters. Not to mention that these characters barely move. They never seem to have any movement and when they do move, it's like they have chronic arthritis or something.
Secondly, the voice work is beyond awful even for a low budget special. The actors put zero effort into their parts, resulting in everyone sounding monotone and lifeless. The worst actors though go to the ones who voice the kids. I can't even understand what 90% of them are saying because their voices are very garbled and unclear. I know these are little kids, but at least let us understand what they're saying.
The next big problem is that the story is ultimately told very badly. There are a lot of pointless scenes that go nowhere. Sometimes, there are these horrible edits that show two things happening at the same time. The pacing is also really horrible and the quest to bring Christmas isn't done until towards the end of the film. Not to mention that there are some plot holes ranging from why Santa just randomly drops presents everywhere to what caused Mrs. Hopewell to be hit with a lightning bolt that resulted in Mrs. Mavilda being hit and somehow becoming nice. Many elements in the story are left unexplained for no reason and is irritating.
The final gripe, and possibly the worst aspect of this film, is its so called "moral". To put it bluntly, the moral here is so awful and misguided that you'll be wondering what the point of this whole film. Apparently, according to this movie, "You always win when you are good." Yes, this is literally the moral of this film. Instead of something like how everyone gets together to be with their families, or helping those in need during the holiday season, we get a horrible message that being good means you'll always win. If this isn't the worst moral in a Christmas special, then I don't know what is. As bad as "The Star Wars Holiday Special" was, it at least had some decent moral, even if it wasn't entirely clear, it had a moral. This movie's moral is beyond lazy and completely misses the point of Christmas so much so, you have to wonder if the people behind this film even know what Christmas is.
Overall, while this film may, keyword: may, be funny to laugh at how bad it is, it's nothing but a heartless film with a horrible moral, a badly told story, and horrible animation and voice acting. There's really nothing good I can say about this so called "special" and it's best left forgotten. So the next time Christmas comes around, find a way better special like the animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I'd even say go and watch the live action one. At least Jim Carry was amusing to watch in that one unlike this film. So unless you literally want to find a film that makes you hate Christmas, then avoid this abomination at all costs.
The plot centers around a rundown daycare, where a woman by the name of Mrs. Mavilda is making the kids' miserable because she is really strict on them. The children's' only friend is a tree named Mrs. Hopewell, albeit all they do is stare at it everyday, but that's the least of this movie's problems. So when a new assistant arrives, named Lily, and her two kids, they all try to teach them about Christmas.
So what's so wrong with this movie? The premise is pretty mediocre, but that doesn't matter at the end when a good story with a good moral is done like in every other Christmas special right? Wrong. Very, very wrong.
First off, the artwork and animation is beyond hideous and sloppy. While the sets and backgrounds look decent enough, the character designs are horrible. Everyone's eyes and facial expressions are guaranteed to give kids nightmares and creep adults out. They all have blank, soulless eyes and sinister smiles and I feel that they're going to steal my soul. The animation is no better at all, it's even worse actually. The lip syncing is so off key, that it's like watching sock puppets try to talk. Every bit of dialogue never seems to match the lip movements of the characters. Not to mention that these characters barely move. They never seem to have any movement and when they do move, it's like they have chronic arthritis or something.
Secondly, the voice work is beyond awful even for a low budget special. The actors put zero effort into their parts, resulting in everyone sounding monotone and lifeless. The worst actors though go to the ones who voice the kids. I can't even understand what 90% of them are saying because their voices are very garbled and unclear. I know these are little kids, but at least let us understand what they're saying.
The next big problem is that the story is ultimately told very badly. There are a lot of pointless scenes that go nowhere. Sometimes, there are these horrible edits that show two things happening at the same time. The pacing is also really horrible and the quest to bring Christmas isn't done until towards the end of the film. Not to mention that there are some plot holes ranging from why Santa just randomly drops presents everywhere to what caused Mrs. Hopewell to be hit with a lightning bolt that resulted in Mrs. Mavilda being hit and somehow becoming nice. Many elements in the story are left unexplained for no reason and is irritating.
The final gripe, and possibly the worst aspect of this film, is its so called "moral". To put it bluntly, the moral here is so awful and misguided that you'll be wondering what the point of this whole film. Apparently, according to this movie, "You always win when you are good." Yes, this is literally the moral of this film. Instead of something like how everyone gets together to be with their families, or helping those in need during the holiday season, we get a horrible message that being good means you'll always win. If this isn't the worst moral in a Christmas special, then I don't know what is. As bad as "The Star Wars Holiday Special" was, it at least had some decent moral, even if it wasn't entirely clear, it had a moral. This movie's moral is beyond lazy and completely misses the point of Christmas so much so, you have to wonder if the people behind this film even know what Christmas is.
Overall, while this film may, keyword: may, be funny to laugh at how bad it is, it's nothing but a heartless film with a horrible moral, a badly told story, and horrible animation and voice acting. There's really nothing good I can say about this so called "special" and it's best left forgotten. So the next time Christmas comes around, find a way better special like the animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I'd even say go and watch the live action one. At least Jim Carry was amusing to watch in that one unlike this film. So unless you literally want to find a film that makes you hate Christmas, then avoid this abomination at all costs.