'Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974)

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

I don't remember ever seeing this as a child and I grew up in that era. In fact, I was 6 years old. Yes, it's only 25 minutes long, but you think it would have came on during the Holidays every year. And back then, we didn't have the number of TV/Cable channels that we do now. It was only the major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, etc). Still, I'm just now watching this. It's kind of cute for a 70's animation and it has a decent lesson in it, if you brake something, then you must try to find a way to fix it. This is a good one for young children. And who can forget the famous Christmas poem by Clement Moore? I used to know all the words, but I couldn't recite them as well last night when I watched it. Are you new to watching this one as well? See how well you remember the famous poem! Definitely a great CLASSIC for the Holidays!

I have always loved animation and Christmas specials. Rankin/Bass had already done some of my absolute favourites like Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty The Snowman and Santa Claus is Comin' To Town, and I remembered Twas the Night Before Christmas from childhood. So I thought to myself, why not revisit it? I am so glad I did. It really is a treasure. I personally would loved for it to be a tad longer, however the story still charms and the message still resonates. The animation perhaps is not the best I've seen from Rankin/Bass but it does have a certain warmth to it.I just love the music. All the Rankin/Bass specials have great music, and Twas the Night Before Christmas is no exception. The incidental music sparkles and of the songs Even a Miracle needs a hand makes me sing along and I have to say I forgot how emotional Give your heart a try was.Twas the Night Before Christmas has very good writing also, with the reciting of the poem Twas the Night Before Christmas bringing me back to my mum reading it at Christmas Eve to help us sleep and several parts coming across as touching. You really relate to the characters as well, even Albert, who wouldn't love talking mice though? The voice acting is very dynamic, with Joel Grey especially impressive. In conclusion, a Christmas treasure that brought all those memories back. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Rankin and Bass does it again. The music is what makes this special truly special. Rankin and Bass make some of the best musical specials ever in the history of Television and 'Twas The Night Before Chrismtas is no exception. It's fun, it's heartwarming, it's everything you would expect from a holiday special. But it's not perfect, I think I should note some major goofs in the animation. The reindeer mainly, the ears are too round, they look more like reinmice then reindeer and the sleigh bells are too large. I mean these are huge bells. Too big. But other then that it does a great job in entertaining and teaching a message about keeping an open mind to the unknown. 9 STARS to a true classic.

When Albert Mouse writes an editorial about the validity of Santa Clause, the Junctionville people get nervous that Christmas will not be coming that year. Santa Clause sends back all of their letter's and it becomes a problem for the local government to figure out how to make sure Christmas happens.Joshua Trundle proposes and builds a clock that will play a beautiful tune to apologize to Santa Clause. As luck would have it, the clock is tampered with and breaks during the ribbon cutting. With all hope lost, midnight on Christmas comes and a miracle happens in Junctionville.Based loosely upon the famous poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas" which is also recited at the end of the holiday special.One of my favorite holiday specials since I was young because it takes a famous poem and add's a "what-if" factor to it by exploring what could have happened to one fictitious town the night before Christmas...