Another Rankin-Bass classic, this time in 2D animation. Was this their only 2D special? (ETA: Oh, right. 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. Duh)
This is definitely one that I definitely watched every single year of my childhood. I grew up with it to such an extent that I never thought of the song as separate from the cartoon. I was a teenager before it occurred to me that "there must have been some magic in that old silk hat they found" hadn't always meant that it was a magic hat stolen from a mean magician, and that "Frosty the Snowman had to hurry on his way" was probably originally intended as a euphemism for melting, not for being taken to the North Pole.
I'd forgotten that there was a narrator for this one. He's rather forgettable, because he's just some old dude, not a snowman or a singing mailman.
The magician looks rather pale, and wastes no time letting everyone know how bitter he is. Although, the hat is his property, I guess we can't fault him for wanting it back. His rabbit sneaks it back to Frosty, so there's much dancing and merriment to the title song. I don't know why Frosty says "Happy birthday!" every time he comes to life, but it's cute.
Quickly, we learn that Frosty is terrified of red thermometers, because even though he just came to life, he knows warmth is a death sentence. So he and the children begin marching downtown (with a broomstick in his hand, of course) towards the train station, where they have a confrontation with a traffic cop, because Frosty doesn't know about rules and things like that. Of course, the traffic cop doesn't realize he was just talking to a snowman until Frosty has already passed by. Rule of cartoon logic.
They make it to the train station, and are flabbergasted that one can't purchase a train ticket without money. And on the evening in the early 80's when this was taped off the TV, it was 59 degrees in Morristown.
It was never clear to me how Karen formed more of an attachment to Frosty than the other kids. She rather impulsively sneaks onto the boxcar with him, where she quickly catches hypothermia. She sneezes, and Frosty says "Are you cold, Karen? Now that's a silly question. You wouldn't be sneezing if you weren't cold." I remember being confused by that when I was little, because people sneeze all the time without being cold-- if they're sick, or simply get dust in their noses.
They end up walking through the woods, in a snowstorm, trying to get to Karen to warmth. I'm sure being carried by a snowman doesn't help. They come upon some woodland creatures who are decorating for Christmas. I swear, I don't even remember there being woodland creatures in this special. Thank you, South Park, for completely ruining all appearances of animated woodland creatures in Christmas specials.
The magician catches up to them and threatens, "Give me that hat or else!" to which Frosty replies, "Or else what?" which annoys the magician--and makes me laugh. It has a long history of making me laugh, actually, and I'm not entirely sure why it's funny. People in cartoons are always saying "or else" and they never go into specifics.
The magician traps Frosty and Karen in a greenhouse, and by the time the rabbit gets Santa for help and gets there, it's too late-- they find Karen weeping over a puddle. There's even a little "in memoriam" montage over a sad reprise of the song. But then Santa explains that Frosty was made out of Christmas snow, which never truly disappears. All it takes is a nice cool breeze and Frosty is a snowman again. The magician still wants his hat back, but Santa threatens that if he lays a hand on it, Santa will never bring him another Christmas present. This threat really gets to the magician, because he's truly just a big kid. Santa tells him to go home and write "I'm very sorry for what I did to Frosty" a hundred million times. Which the magician happily does, hoping that if he does what Santa asks, Santa will bring him a new hat. Seems fair. I mean, the hat was his to begin with.
Santa takes Frosty away on his sleigh, and all is right with the world. I'm off work today, so I just might fit one of the Frosty sequels in today too.
Visuals: 2 out of 5
Spirit: 4 out of 5
Nostalgia: 5 out of 5
Humor: 3 out of 5
Music: 3 out of 5
Overall: 4 out of 5
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