The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Extremely well thought out, scripted, and CGI'd (acted)? There are reindeer that look they are on steroids, an extremely well organized elf force that oversees Santa's prelaunch then the actual launch and then directing Santa through weather fair and foul to the kid's house's (Air Force eat your heart out):). The main character is Wayne a long time Prep and landing elf. His job is to go to kid's houses and prepare for Santa's landing. When he doesn't get the promotion he thought he was, he get's a bad attitude. This leads to a kid waking up and seeing them at work but here some of the great thinking shows up, they have a forget it ornament that causes the people who get hit to forget. Learning his lesson Wayne guides Santa and his sleigh to the house through some weather that almost caused a "figgy pudding", a bypass of the house. So every thing turns out well, Wayne gets offered a promotion but turns it down to stay with P&L. There is humor here for kid's and grown ups and I thoroughly enjoy this one every Christmas time.

"Prep & Landing" introduces us to Lanny and Wayne. They are part of an elite team of high-tech elves who make houses ready for Santa Claus to arrive. When things go horribly wrong, the hilarious duo must rise above their challenges in order to save Christmas.This mini-movie is hilarious and entertaining. People of all ages will find something redeeming in "Prep & Landing." The animation might be different than what we get with Pixar, but the spirit is there. That shouldn't come as a surprise since Pixar's John Lasseter is an executive producer of the film."Prep & Landing" is perfect for the whole family to enjoy as they come together to celebrate the holiday season.

Prep & Landing (2009) **** (out of 4) I hate using the word "classic" on recent films as I believe they need time to grow into that but there's no question that this here is one of the best animated shorts I've seen in a very long time. An elf named Wayne (voice of Dave Foley) is expecting a promotion from Santa but when he's passed over he decides to take his job less seriously the next year, which ends up possibly causing a young boy his Christmas presents. The entire set-up of this short film is without question one of the most imaginative and entertaining that I've seen. The "prep and landing" refers to the elves job as they have to prep the house to make sure everyone is asleep and make sure that Santa's landing will allow him to get into the house without being noticed. This was such a nice and catchy way to tell the Santa legend that I can't help but think people will get a big kick out of it. Of course, it doesn't hurt that this Disney short features some terrific animation and most importantly it has some very memorable characters. Foley really does a fine job bringing Wayne to life and I thought he was terrific in the voice role and really adds a lot to the film. At just over twenty-minutes there's not a slow second to be found here and instead there are just good laughs and a terrific time.

After recording this on DVR last year, I finally got to watch Prep & Landing today this Christmas Day. After a little more than 200 years of helping Santa make smooth landings on houses' roofs, one of the elves gets a little sour, attitude-wise, when he doesn't get a promotion and almost alienates his new partner. Then, a creature gets discovered stirring and there's a blizzard and...oh, just watch the animated special if you want to know what happens and just enjoy the hip holiday references that get sprinkled throughout that help make "Prep & Landing" such an enjoyable treat to watch thanks to all responsible for this Disney production.