User Reviews

Great story that truly brings back childhood memories. Growing up in the 70s, this show was a staple of the Christmas season and always showed up on television, along with a few others and some classic Christmas commercials (before Christmas became a dirty and discriminating word).

Yes, like other posters have commented, the animation/claymation/whatever it's called is dated. There are no fancy computer generated special effects, and some comments made would be frowned upon in "today's society." But perhaps that is one of the things about this show that makes it so appealing. I appreciate that this was top technology for the times (and I like that it doesn't have all the "scary" animations that some of today's shows have). Also, I can appreciate that any "sexist" remarks made (such as the men "protecting the women folk" - there was actual chivalry back then!) were made in a time when this was acceptable to the censors, but cursing and on-screen violence/sex/etc. wasn't. So does that make our times better or worse than those just 20ish years ago? I also want to set the record straight... Santa does apologize to Rudolph before he needs him to guide his sleigh. It is a brief apology right after Rudolph returns. Santa says something like "I was a little to rough on you. I guess we all were." Some people have commented that by today's standards, they find this "too lame" of an apology. Again, I say that times have changed, and not necessarily for the better. People today are less willing to forgive and, instead, seek revenge. Imagine if Rudolph would have said "stuff it, Santa." Kids throughout the world would have suffered because of his anger and resentment. Instead, he took a higher road and became a hero. Even the final words of the song tells of him going down in history.

Finally, my son and daughter love it. They are both very young, and the things that would be criticized by the P.C. police out there go straight over there heads (and I don't believe in the whole brainwashing conspiracy theory). It's a simple story that isn't so frightening that it makes them run from the room in tears. It also ends on a cheerful note and they love the music.

As a kid and even as a teenager, I loved to see it on T.V. after Thanksgiving. It was one of the seasonal shows that meant Christmas was coming. Now, since all T.V. seems to show are reality shows or night time soap operas that are not family appropriate, I will continue to play the DVD for my kids anytime they would like to see it between Thanksgiving and Christmas... and I will delightfully watch it with them.

It could be that I didn't first see "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" until well into adulthood, but one question still nags, year after year:

Why is everyone at the North Pole such a dick?

It's the like the producers took the cruelest line of the song ("All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names; They never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games") and ran with it.

But Rudolph's not the only victim. Hermey finds himself the new social outcast for wanting to be a gay dentist. I realize this is the '60s, but that's messed up. Mrs. Clause (ball-breaker extraordinaire) brow-beats her husband into staying fat for Christmas. Donner's a misogynist douche who keeps the wife at home ("NO! This is man's work!").

Rudolph gets the short end of the stick (which is an understatement) in more ways than one during this holiday staple. His old man Donner shuns the kid just for being born with a light-up nose. Santa does the same and bars him from being on the sleigh team. Then he gets laughed out of reindeer games. Dude can't even mack on the ladies without being attacked by their bigoted fathers. And here's the kicker: Rudolph's the one that pulls Santa's fat out of the fire and saves Christmas.

And Burl Ives is okay with all of this! He just stands there, plucking a soundless banjo. The moral here seems to be "if you're different, we don't want you! ... unless you save the day, no thanks to our ingrate selves, then you're part of the family!"

Yukon Cornelius is the only reasonable of the non-victim characters, and he's daffy as all hell. You can't help but love that guy.

But at the end of the day, this was a glimpse into a time when "Christmas Special"s were few and far between. And I do have a fondness for the sets and stop-motion work involved. There's just something about Ives' voice and watching the visuals (without thinking too much about why everyone here's a douche) that makes this one watchable, every year.

6.5/10

After reading some of the reviews, I think most of the people who see this wonderful Christmas classic in a negative light, are not grasping the true meaning of the story. Many of them mention that it makes Santa and the other characters who work at the north pole seem cruel and mean because of how they treat Rudolph until they need him. That is not what happens in the movie because 1. Rudolph's dad is sorry for how he treated him when Rudolph goes missing, and 2. Santa tells Rudolph, he is sorry when he and his friends get back from their adventure, not when he suddenly he needs Rudolph after learning about the storm. The meaning of the story is the importance of accepting who you are and working through life's adversities instead of trying to fit in to accepted norms. It also shows that even though those we hold in highest esteem can sometimes be wrong, it is just as important to be able to forgive them as it is to do so for those we see as our equals. Other complaints focus on the misfit toys saying they are mistreated by being dumped out of Santa's sleigh and by being brought to a snowy island in the first place. Maybe they are being dropped, with the help of umbrellas I might add, to homeless children somewhere in the world where there are no homes with chimneys. Children who will love them no matter what their shortcomings are, unlike spoiled well off kids. And the bird suddenly being able to fly, well it is the season for miracles and Santa is suppose to be magical. Finally people point to the dolly not having any obvious problems. My answer to them is that there are plenty of perfectly normal or even beautiful beings out there who have to go through life being unloved because of their beliefs or actions. King Moonracer doesn't go out each night looking for toys that are odd or ugly, he looks for toys who are unloved and feel unwanted. He rescues them and gives them a home, the only home he has to offer and it may not be the best but it shows that at least he cares.

I think the show basically wants to get out the point that everyone , regardless of handicap, social , mental, or physical is special. That is a noble wonderful message. How they get there is another issue to be sure. Santa and the reindeer herd are selfish and only become nice to Rudolph when they can USE him for something... and that something is to guide the reindeer and sleigh on a very foggy Christmas Eve . This is very tasteless , in my opinion. Yes I know its just a kids show and I should not read into it anymore. Do not underestimate kids. Kids learn from these shows and they will feel its OK to ridicule someone else until they actually need them for something. Sounds like a Seinfeld Episode to me but it should not be a Seinfeld episode... I like Seinfeld by the way, but it is what it is- caricature for adults. This is mean spirited and quite frankly very UNsantaish as far as I am concerned. For a good wholesome , great message Christmas show stick to the Grinch. Children can learn better life's lessons from that show. In the Grinch , the message is that Christmas can be good even under dire circumstances. In other words the holiday season is in the heart not in material things.

While I gave Frosty the Snowman 10 out of 10 and feel it deserved it,Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is a classic to behold and EASILY the best of the Christmas specials of the 1960's. A good place to start is Rudolph himself. Rudolph is wonderfully voiced by Billie May Richards and is an easy character to root for right from the start. We see a wonderful character progression from Rudolph being mistreated by everyone in Christmastown to him being on the run to him growing older and realizing he has to face his troubles rather than run from them and that he must go home to the big moment where Santa says "Rudolph with your nose so bright won't you guide my sleigh tonight." Rudolph's journey is just fantastic. What the producers have also done with this show is expanded on the misfit theme and added other characters not in the song to obtain a reasonable length show. There's a misfit elf and a wonderful collection of "misfit toys" on the Island of Misfit toys. I especially like the train with square wheels on its caboose. The idea for the misfit toys was bloody brilliant! And then there's the music. All the music throughout this show is wonderful. But I especially love Holly Jolly Christmas and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Not many people know that Holly Jolly Christmas was originally written for the purpose of being included in this show and it's still one of the best Christmas songs there is. And Burl Ives's performance of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is far superior to the Gene Autry version of the song. Everything about Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is wonderful and classic. I watch this show 2-3 times every December,including every Christmas Eve night. And last November I purchased the mp3 Versions of Burl Ives Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and 3 mp3 versions of Holly Jolly Christmas,including Burl Ives. Rudolph the Red Nosed is a timeless and classic Christmas special that can't be anything but 10 stars. :)

The movie doesn't hold 'perfect' status that the movie can't be review or pull apart. Maybe, I'm reading into this movie, but some notes about Rankin and Bass's stop motion animated Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The red nose almost didn't happen, because a red nose is traditionally associated with drunkenness, and so thought inappropriate for a Christmas character. The TV special movie based on the Johnny Marks song, and the poem by Robert May, starts with real life news footage of snow blizzards. I have always found it, strange how it cuts from our world to stop motion clay puppets. Then go to the narrator, a snowman named Sam (Burt Ives) who introduces us to Rudolph. There was no needed to show news footage, as Sam does mention the storm in his introduction. Donner's wife gives birth to Rudolph and when Santa Claus visits the family. He sees the glowing nose, he scolds Donner for it. Santa treats the elves badly during their singing, hates freak reindeers and mocks his nagging wife. He actively encouraged discrimination and was self-centered. Santa declares Rudolph unfit. Santa is a selfish greedy old man only concerned with what he can exploit here. It's disturbing. Rudolph go to the Reindeer Games where he's mock. Then enters Clarice, a romantic interest, that been kind of forced down our throat. It really seems out of place, but it helps push the plot. Soon after, Clarice's father forbids her to hang around with Rudolph, which prompts him to make the decision to run away from home. He joins by Hermey, a member of Santa's Elves who dreams of becoming a dentist rather than making toys. This might be a metaphor for "dentistry" is a euphemism for homosexual sex as some people think; I just thinks he's a dentist. Then a prospector Yukon Cornelius comes to help the three on their way, avoiding bumping into the Abominable Snow Monster. They stumble across the Island of Misfit Toys ruled by King Moonracer, a brown winged lion whom gathers up all unwanted toys. He gives them a home on his island until he can find homes for them. When the King is forced to reject their request to remain on the Island, you can see that it pains him to do so. You can sense his internal struggle. After all, the King is not a toy. He is the ultimate misfit, a flying lion who wears a tiny crown. This might be metaphor to Jesus and the Jewish exile. The king agrees to let them stay for one night in exchange for a promise from Rudolph that as soon as he returns to the North Pole, like the promise land in Canaan, he asked Santa Claus to deliver the Misfit Toys to children. Rudolph feeling that he might endanger his friends, left. Rudolph grows older on his way back don't know why it took him forever to get home. He returns to his cave to find that his parents, along with Clarice, have left to search for him. Despite, Donner gone for months, Santa Claus does not call a search for him, and puts a guilt trip on Rudolph. They have been captured by the Abominable Snow Monster. After a brief fight, Rudolph is knocked out. The rock should have killed him no less. Fortunately, Hermey & Yukon arrive and save the day. They return back to the North Pole, where huge blizzard blows in which threatens to cancel Santa's trip. Santa is caught by Rudolph's gleaming nose and decides that it's light could cut through the storm. When Rudolph is welcomed back, it is not because everyone suddenly realizes they were jerks to him. It is explicitly because his "deformity" is now useful. There is no shame felt by anyone who mistreated him and no half-hearted apologizes. It's just isn't right. The group then sets off to deliver the presents with a quick stop to first pick up the Misfit Toys. Surprising the original does not include Santa traveling to the Island of Misfit Toys, but does include a scene near the end of the special in which Yukon Cornelius discovers a peppermint mine near Santa's workshop. This really just make the whole Misfit Toys sub-plot worthless. Discarded in 1965 to make room for Santa traveling to the Island of Misfit toys, Cornelius's scene was cut in the end. Viewers were so taken by the forlorn Misfit Toys that many complained Santa was not seen fulfilling his promise to include them in his annual delivery. In reaction, both are shown. However, to make room, several sequences were deleted: the bridge from "We Are Santa's Elves", Rudolph & the elf's duet reprise of "We're a Couple of Misfits," and dialogue by Burl Ives. A new duet, "Fame and Fortune," was shot for the revised version and put in place of "We're a Couple of Misfits". The special's 1998 restoration saw "Misfits" returned to its original film context, while the 2004 DVD release showcases "Fame and Fortune". Love theme "There's Always Tomorrow", sung by Clarice, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" and "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" are also cut in some versions. It's very confusing and hard to follow. The audio track seems to go up and down, and the music sometimes tends to die off in the movie, before finishing in some DVDs versions. The commercial cuts are annoying as well. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer is a poorly constructed and conceived song, but it seems to be here to stay like this movie. Yes, it's a classic, and brings joy. It's worth watching. Fortunately, its airplay is limited to a few weeks out of the year. So check it out. It will bring your spirits up even if it's kind of awful.