''Santa vs. the Snowman'' is a 1997 American animated

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

created by

Steve Oedekerk Steven Brent Oedekerk (born November 27, 1961) is an American filmmaker, actor and stand-up comedian. He is best known for his collaborations with actor and comedian Jim Carrey and director Tom Shadyac (particularly the '' Ace Ventura'' franc ...

and produced by

O Entertainment Steven Brent Oedekerk (born November 27, 1961) is an American filmmaker, actor and stand-up comedian. He is best known for his collaborations with actor and comedian Jim Carrey and director Tom Shadyac (particularly the '' Ace Ventura'' franc ...

. It originally aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

on December 12, 1997, following ''The Online Adventures of Ozzie the Elf''. The special was voiced by

Jonathan Winters Jonathan Harshman Winters III (November 11, 1925 – April 11, 2013) was an American comedian, actor, author, television host, and artist. He started performing as a stand up comedian before transitioning his career to acting in film and te ...

Ben Stein Benjamin Jeremy Stein (born November 25, 1944) is an American writer, lawyer, actor, comedian, and commentator on political and economic issues. He began his career as a speechwriter for U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford before enter ...

Victoria Jackson Victoria Jackson (born August 2, 1959) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1986 to 1992. Early life Jackson was born in Miami, Florida, the daughter of Marlene Esther (née Blac ...

Mark DeCarlo Mark DeCarlo is an American actor, television host, comedian, travel, internet personality, and foodie expert. He is currently known for being a contributor to WLS-TV morning show ''Windy City Live'', a locally produced Chicago program that rep ...

and David Floyd, and narrated by

Don LaFontaine Donald LeRoy LaFontaine (August 26, 1940 – September 1, 2008) was an American voice actor who recorded more than 5,000 film trailers and hundreds of thousands of television advertisements, network promotions, and video game trailers over fou ...

. Relations to other films, like a scene of ice-made

AT-ST All Terrain Walkers are armored fighting vehicles from the ''Star Wars'' universe that traverse the landscape on mechanical legs. They are used by the Old Republic, the Galactic Empire, and the First Order for ground assault, reconnaissance o ...

's, mostly resembling the ones from ''

The Empire Strikes Back ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic film, epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based o ...

'' appear throughout. In 2002, the special was released in

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...

3D as ''Santa vs. the Snowman 3D'', with new scenes at the beginning and end of the film.

Plot

A lonely Snowman has no friends and never learned to speak because nobody was around. Instead, he plays his flute for the stars every night. On one particular night, the stars answer back, a flash of light zooms past the Snowman and shatters his flute. Consumed with curiosity, the Snowman sets off to find out what created the mysterious light. Eventually, the Snowman finds himself at Santa's Village. The Snowman enters a toy workshop, where elves are making toys. Another elf comes into the workshop with its owner, Santa Claus. While Santa is chatting with his elves, who praise him highly, the Snowman finds a red and gold flute in the workshop. After grabbing the flute, an alarm goes off. The Snowman retreats, but Santa sends some of his elves to retrieve the flute. While being chased, the Snowman drops the flute, and hides from the elves by jumping off a cliff. He grabs an icicle stalactite, waiting for them to leave. After the elves retrieve the flute and return to the village, the Snowman heads home. The Snowman cannot stop thinking about Santa and his wonderful workshop. It seems that Santa has a marvelous home, many friends, plenty of toys, and is loved by everybody, but he wouldn't let the Snowman have the flute. The Snowman imagines himself as Santa, giving out toys, loved by everyone. At that moment, the Snowman thinks, "Why should Santa keep all that love, good tidings, and friendship for himself? That didn't seem fair. Maybe, it's time someone else got to be Santa?" With that, the Snowman forms a plan to take Santa's spot. The Snowman sneaks onto a guided village train tour, where he takes pictures with a camera disguised as an ice cream cone. The Snowman gets off the train and admires Santa's sleigh, where he is noticed and kicked out. The Snowman then makes various equipment for invading the workshop, and snowman minions to help him, becoming a much more devious Snowman. The Snowman and his minions invade Santa's Village, but Santa sends his elves to fight back, in a chaotic battle. The elves attempt to melt and blow up the snowmen while the snowmen spew snowballs at the elves. Since Christmas is only hours away, Santa decides to help his elves end the conflict, and enters the battle in a large Nutcracker mech. The Snowman unleashes a snow monster, but Santa's mech defeats the monster by shrinking it with a heat gun. Just when it seems that Snowman is about to surrender, many more of his minions appear, greatly outnumbering Santa's forces. With that, Santa and his elves are imprisoned in an ice cage, and the Snowman leaves to deliver toys. The Snowman, feeling wonderful because everyone will soon love him, soars above the rooftops in a snow replica of Santa's sleigh, while his minions act as his reindeer. The Snowman arrives at a little girl's house and enters through the front door. An elf named Flippy frees Santa and his elves, and Santa heads to the Snowman's location. The Snowman gives the girl an ice doll, but the doll shatters, and his other toys melted near the fireplace. Santa arrives and gives the girl a real doll. Instead of punishing the Snowman, Santa, knowing the Snowman regrets what he did, gives him the flute he attempted to steal. Santa explains to the Snowman that the flute always belonged to him because Santa accidentally broke the other flute, and that he could've given joy to people on his own, without taking over Santa's operations. As they are about to part ways, the Snowman discovers that his sleigh and his minions had melted from the heat of the little girl's chimney. Santa offers the Snowman a ride back home, and they become friends.

Cast

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

as the Narrator *

as Spunky the Elf *

as Elves *

as Flippy the Elf and Security Elf * David Floyd as Security Elf * Jean DeLisle as Kids * John A. Davis as Elves * Keith Alcorn as Charlie the Elf *

as Sno' Hellton *

Dee Bradley Baker Dee Bradley Baker (born August 31, 1962) is an American voice actor. Much of his work has consisted of vocalizations of animals and monsters. Baker's roles include animated series such as '' Adventure Time'', ''American Dad!'', '' Avatar: The Las ...

as Elves * Jim Jackman as Elves

Release

Originally made as a television special for the ABC Television Network in December 1997, the film was later presented in

IMAX 3D IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating, with ...

theaters during the November 2002–06 holiday seasons. Three bonus features included an interactive game narrated by Oedekerk, but no

featurette In the American film industry, a featurette is a kind of film that is shorter than a full-length feature, but longer than a short film. The term may refer to either of two types of content: a shorter film or a companion film. Medium-length film ...

or commentary. ''Santa vs. the Snowman 3D'' was released on 3D-

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

, including 4 pairs of

3D glasses Stereoscopy, also called stereoscopics or stereo imaging, is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stereoscopic image is ...

, on October 12, 2004, by

Universal Studios Home Video Universal Pictures Home Entertainment LLC (UPHE) is the home video distribution division of Universal Pictures, an American film studio owned by NBCUniversal, the entertainment unit of Comcast. UPHE is the home video distributor for all of the ...

. It offered optional 2D or 3D viewing. The film grossed $10.1M according to

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

Reception

The film received a rating of 81% from

Awards

In 2003, ''Santa vs. the Snowman'' was awarded a Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing in Special Venue Film. Sound editors: * Tim Archer (supervising sound editor / re-recording mixer) * Brian Eimer (supervising sound editor / re-recording mixer) * Carl Lenox (music editor) * Dan Shattuck (sound editor) * Grant McAlpine (sound editor) * Regan Ramos (sound editor)

References

External links

* {{John A. Davis 1997 animated short films 1997 television specials 2002 computer-animated films 2002 3D films 2002 short films 1990s American animated films 1990s American television specials 1990s animated television specials 2000s American animated films 2002 animated short films American Christmas films Computer-animated short films DNA Productions films Films scored by Harvey Cohen Films directed by John A. Davis IMAX short films Santa Claus in film Films with screenplays by John A. Davis Films with screenplays by Steve Oedekerk American computer-animated films 3D animated short films Films about snowmen American animated short films American Broadcasting Company television specials Animated Christmas television specials American Christmas television specials