I remember watching this one when I was little, and thinking it was new. It had actually been around at least a decade at that point. It was just new-er than the original Frosty and didn't get shown as much.
No Jimmy Durante. Instead we get Andy Griffith, here to tell the tale of how Frosty took a wife.
Jack Frost is the bad guy in this special. And he has the look of a cartoon villain from the 80's. Which makes perfect sense, since he is in fact a cartoon villain from the 70's. Anyway. He's jealous because all the children love Frosty as their symbol of winter. And Frosty's sad because he's all alone at night when the children go inside. So they build him a wife, and take suggestions for a name. Suggestions include "Minihaha" and "Cornflakes." But they don't name her "Cornflakes." They name her "Crystal." Sadly, though, there is no magic hat lying around to bring Crystal to life. And I'm glad for that, because it would be pretty cheesy if magic hats just came a dime a dozen. But, apparently, frost flowers made with love by a lonely snowman can do the trick. So Crystal comes to life, just in time to see Jack Frost steal Frosty's hat. But Crystal knows just want to do: she makes him a frost flower of his own, and he comes right back to life. That makes very little sense, but it's a Christmas special, so I'll ride with it.
Time for a wedding. Parson Brown shows up and everything, but when he gets there, he proclaims that he is not allowed to perform snowpeople marriages. "It wouldn't be legal." He really says that. But he humors the kids and helps them build a Snow Parson. He even loans the Snow Parson his Bible, and that brings him to life. Like Frosty and Crystal before him, his first words are "Happy birthday." It doesn't make sense when any of them do it, but it's still cute.
Frosty asks Jack Frost to be his best man. Which he accepts, because I've always been the best man!" Like many Christmas villains, it doesn't take much to warm Jack Frost's heart. So the wedding goes on, and for a cartoon wedding, it's rather pretty. Set to the tune of (what else?) "Winter Wonderland." There's even a little daydream sequence where they imagine having snow babies. I have to admit, it makes me "awww" out loud.
Everyone, including Jack Frost, is so darn happy that winter almost doesn't end. But Parson Brown convinces them that winter should end so spring can happen. Good old Parson Brown. Frosty and Crystal skate out of town, and as they do, we briefly glimpse Karen on the bridge. I wonder why they reduced her role to a mere cameo in this one? She was the one who stuck by Frosty's side in the original. Maybe she is traumatized by that time she almost froze to death and so she doesn't play outside much anymore. Or maybe her parents have been sending her to shock therapy, like Dorothy in Return to Oz. (I'm not knocking shock therapy, it's a great treatment for some people-- but it always disturbed me that Dorothy would have to go through that based on the events of Wizard of Oz. Who thought that up?
Frosty and Crystal take the train back to the North Pole. And that's pretty much the end. This special really doesn't have much of a plot. But the animation is really good, so we'll give it that.
Visuals: 4 out of 5
Spirit: 2 out of 5
Nostalgia: 3 out of 5
Humor: 1 out of 5
Music: 3 out of 5
Overall: 3 out of 5
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