[We’ll be getting back to serious topics and horrible people next week. For now, I’m thinking more pleasant thoughts.]
A personal favorite here.
There have been many attempts to turn popular TV ads into media franchises (I actually had to Google the Mean Joe Greene ad to make sure I wasn’t just imagining that they actually aired a made-for-TV movie based on it). But A Claymation Christmas Celebration (1987) is probably the best of the bunch.
The reason it stands out is that Will Vinton Studios was an extraordinary operation filled with wonderfully gifted artists and animators. They never had either the cultural impact or, if you’ll pardon the expression, the commercial success they deserved. Nonetheless, they put out an exceptional body of work.
As charming and well animated as the titular raisins might have been, they easily could have worn out their welcome in a longer format. The producers of the Christmas special wisely chose to keep their appearance to a single musical number and instead filled out the rest of the half hour with a range of clever, funny, and—in one case—absolutely beautiful animation.
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