Wonderful character development!

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

. . . the Axis Powers of World War Two as they misjudged America as nearly-rotten fruit ripe for the plucking. THE CAPTAIN'S CHR!STMAS uses the hackneyed MGM cartoon device of the main character ("Pegleg John Silver" here, NOT "The Captain," as the title would lead you to suspect!) falling asleep to have a wild dream mid-cartoon. (If these animated folks had had any brains, they'd dream about being employed at ANOTHER movie studio besides MGM!) Problem is, Pegleg John NEVER wakes from his nightmare about shooting up the kids' Christmas while dressed in a Santa Suit. (Yes, there WAS a live-action feature remake of this animated short last holiday season titled KRAMPUS.) More perversely, Pegleg John rides over all the Captain's kids' new toys on their newly assembled tricycle, breaking the whole lot of them--trike and all! Most disturbingly, John-as-a-Kid (with a miniature Pegleg and all!) shows up to persuade John to go to a nearby village totally populated by Santas to beg for replacement toys! John's pirate crew may or may not crash the Pearly Gates during this foray, but who really cares?

I'm admittedly not overly familiar with "The Captain and the Kids" series. So perhaps this cartoon is a poor place to jump on. Apparently The Captain is dressed up as Santa to deliver presents to the kids. Some British thief (he says blimey and bloomin' a lot) with three weird little guys who hang around him jumps the Captain and puts on his Santa suit. Then he goes into the house and proceeds to terrorize the children destroying everything and ruining their Christmas. So basically what we have here is a Christmas cartoon about a home invasion. Creepy.The animation is OK but the guy's peg leg switches legs constantly. The humor that I see such praise for here was missing for me. Judging by other reviews this is I guess one of the better "Captain & the Kids" shorts. That doesn't make me want to seek out the others. Undoubtedly fans of the series will enjoy it much more.

Having just discovered this Christmas cartoon starring The Captain and the Kids on YouTube, I have to say-the plotting is all over the place what with peg-leg John stealing The Captain's disguise as Santa Claus, breaking into Mama and her boys'-Hans and Franz-house not to mention their toys and then vowing to make amends because of a crisis of conscience and not getting arrested for his previous doings? Well, it is Christmas and forgiveness is ample here. Having said all that, there are some pretty funny gags here and I loved seeing John and his co-horts sing with their tongues moving up and down in rhythm and with Friz Freleng as director-having temporarily left Leon Schlesinger for M-G-M-you know you're getting some good musical animation. So with all that, I'll just be generous and recommend The Captain's Christmas.

I have to admit, this is the first, and so far the only, short I've seen featuring the Katzenjammer Kids (or "The Captain and the Kids" as they're called here). I really enjoyed it. The story is simple, the Captain is going to surprise the kids by dressing as Santa Claus, however, the peg-legged villain called John takes his place. There are some very funny visuals. I especially enjoyed the peg-legged foot prints left by John on the snow covered roof. The final Christmas carolling scene is also a riot. Unlike many Christmas cartoons, this one doesn't get too sappy. It keeps a high level of craziness while remaining in the Christmas spirit.