The Trolls and the Christmas Express (1981)
The Trolls and the Christmas Express is an animated classic about six roguish trolls who are determined to sabotage Christmas by infiltrating Santa's village disguised as elves. After a week of wreaking havoc but still not completely ruining Christmas, they are about to give up when they get a devilishly clever idea. On the day before Christmas Eve they get the reindeer dancing and singing songs all night long. The poor reindeer are so tired the next day that they cannot find the energy to pull Santa's sleigh. Christmas looks like it has finally been ruined - but everyone knows you can't stop Christmas! The elves quickly devise a plan to link the train from Santa's village with tracks that travel all over the world. Santa can deliver the toys using the Christmas Express.
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I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Here is another animated Christmas TV special straight from my childhood. I had barely remember seeing it as a kid, until I saw it on YouTube. Anyway, this special is about six "horribly ugly; rougish and rascally; tricky and troublesome" trolls who snuck into Santa's village dressed like elves, to stop Christmas from coming.With the vocal talents of Roger Miller (Disney's Robin Hood and Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey) and Hans Conried (Disney's Peter Pan); the animation from Atkinson Film-Arts known for the four "Raccoons" TV specials are the reasons I love this holiday classic. So that is all I have to say.
This animated show sets out exactly what it intended for a family Christmas show. The storyline is unique but simple enough for kids to follow. The animation is simple but effective. The voices are perfect for the characters -- several long-term character actors were employed. The music (Roger Miller - "King of the Road") is memorable and encourages children to dance and act silly. Our children are now 20, 15, and 13, but this is still required viewing in our family every holiday season.Sure, Charlie Brown, Frosty the Snowman, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer are classics. But hunt down this video or some other lesser-known production while your children or grandchildren are young and start your own special tradition.