Good start, but then it gets ruined

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1976) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Mildly entertaining animated film from Bass and Rankin starts off where the previous film ended. This time out Santa gets a call saying that baby New Year has gone missing and without him there will be no new year. With bad weather out Santa decides to send Rudolph who goes out to search for the kid. This film falls well short of the original movie but I think there's enough here for adults to enjoy. I say adults because I think there are quite a few dark moments here that might scare young kids and I'd also say that the movie contains some rather mean-spirited moments that really aren't good for them either. I say this because the entire thing is about baby New Year having large ears. The kid goes from one island to the next but he's constantly being laughed at for having big years. The "moral" of the story is obvious but with Rudolph you had other kids making fun and laughing at him while the majority of the people laughing at New Year are adults. With that out of the way, the rest of the film is fairly entertaining, although it really should have just been thirty-minutes instead of an hour. As you'd expect the animation is very good and there's no question that Rudolph is a very good and entertaining character. The supporting players (bears, Ben Franklin, a caveman) are interesting as well.

The original "Rudolph" was a lot of fun, stressed "Rudolph's growing up and taking on responsibility, and had superior songs. Some of those songs, like "Holly Jolly Christmas" "Silver and Gold" and have made their way into the secular Christmas soundtrack. Not so with "Rudolph's (Less Than) Shiny New Year".This attempt to milk the story should have been abandoned. The story badly mixes characters from other stories, has songs that just are not memorable, animation that differers dramatically from the original, and, frankly, its villain is not villainous enough!This show reminds me of how I enjoyed the charming animated "The little Drummer Boy" but not its horrid sequel "LDB, Book Two". Sometimes, one has to make a good movie and remain happy itch one has made,rather than trying for a sequel.

It's pretty obvious that the producers of the original Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer TV special were trying to milk the concept once more. They should have quit while they were ahead.As another person pointed out in their comment, at the end of the original Rudolph show, he had become a young adult. But, in this show, he is back to being a "kid" again. That's just the beginning of the weirdness.The plot is quite confusing and muddled, including numerous character names that relate to dates and times. If a small child is watching, they might enjoy it simply for the animation. But, I cannot imagine trying to explain the plot and the characters to them.You know a show is odd when you see a scene with Rudolph standing there with a Ben Franklin-lookalike, a caveman, and a knight in armor.This story concept might have worked well on its own without Rudolph, playing on the "travelling through time" angle. But, what it has to do with Rudolph and the Christmas holiday, I'm still trying to figure out.

While not as good as either "Year Without a Santa Claus" or the original "Rudolph", this was still must-see TV when I was growing up. Since it's one-hour long (when broadcast), you get more bang for your buck than the many half-hour Christmas shows.When watching this recently, it seems to me they cut one of Red Skelton's songs. Wasn't there a song titled "The moving finger writes...", where Father Time explains to Rudolph how Baby New Year grows into an old man by the end of the year? I have a distinct memory of that. Perhaps it shows up on the DVD? In a similar vein, there's a song I know they routinely cut from "Year Without a Santa Claus"--Mrs. Claus singing "Anyone Can Be Santa Claus". I realize that they're probably squeezing in more commercials than when I was a kid, & something is bound to get cut. Still.