Good movie but grossly overrated

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I don't remember ever seeing this as a child and I grew up in that era. In fact, I was 6 years old. Yes, it's only 25 minutes long, but you think it would have came on during the Holidays every year. And back then, we didn't have the number of TV/Cable channels that we do now. It was only the major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, etc). Still, I'm just now watching this. It's kind of cute for a 70's animation and it has a decent lesson in it, if you brake something, then you must try to find a way to fix it. This is a good one for young children. And who can forget the famous Christmas poem by Clement Moore? I used to know all the words, but I couldn't recite them as well last night when I watched it. Are you new to watching this one as well? See how well you remember the famous poem! Definitely a great CLASSIC for the Holidays!

In the Golden Age of Network Television they gave us all sorts of programming around the holidays. We would get lots of Variety Television Specials with the A List Entertainers. Julie Andrews Johnny Cash Perry Como and more. We would also get BETTER television movies. "The Gathering" and "An American Christmas Carol" to name a few.Every year we would also get some sort of new Animated Special. The good ones became television staples like "Rudolph" and "Charlie Brown". Some were good but never caught on as much as those two. That is the case in point of this cartoon. "Twas The Night Before Christmas".'Twas the Night Before Christmas is a 1974 animated Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions and based on the famous 1823 poem that opens with this line. The special first originally aired on CBS on December 8, 1974 where it aired annually until 1994, when The Family Channel (now Freeform) took over its syndication rights.Although the opening credits mention "told and sung by Joel Grey", it is really narrated by George Gobel, as there is more emphasis on the point of view of Father Mouse, with Moore's poem read by Grey a secondary plot.The program is set in the fictional town of Junctionville, New York around the turn of the 20th century. Santa Claus is offended by an anonymous letter printed in the town's newspaper (and signed "all of us") claiming that he doesn't exist. In response, Santa returns the entire town's letters to them unopened. Upon reading the anonymous letter printed in the newspaper, Father Mouse — a mouse assistant to the human clock maker Joshua Trundle — immediately suspects that his brainy son Albert is its author. Albert confirms his suspicions, repeating the letter verbatim to him.Father Mouse and the Trundle Family devise a plan to appease Santa by building a singing clock tower for him, built with a special recording to play a song to coax him not to bypass Junctionville on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, Albert enters the clock to explore it without permission, and inadvertently causes it to malfunction in front of the whole town, seriously damaging Trundle's professional reputation. Furthermore, the Mayor, publicly embarrassed at the clock tower's failure, refuses to give Joshua access to it for repairs.Confessing his mistake, Albert volunteers to repair it himself and Father Mouse tells Joshua of the situation before waiting at his bed with worry on Christmas Eve. Although Albert does not complete his task until about one minute after the midnight deadline, the clock does play its song within earshot of Santa which convinces him to turn around and come to town after all.There is many lessons in this little special. The hidden one I love the most is "Good and Bad Actions Have Consequences". I look forward to seeing this when it pops on again!

This is another Christmas production by famous animation directors Rankin and Bass from over 40 years ago. Jerome Coopersmith adapted Clement Moore's poem for this 23-minute holiday special. Mice and men appear in here and one of the human central character is voiced (and sung) by Joel Grey ("Cabaret") shortly after his Academy Award win in the Supporting Actor category. The story is a bitter pill for all children out there. A critical little mouse sends a letter to Santa accusing him of only being a figment of people's imagination (what a cruel thought!). Consequently, Santa has enough and decides to no deliver presents this year to children all over the world. But with a bit of help by his father and by a couple humans, the boy sets things straight again. He learns to listen to his head instead of his heart and in the end everything is fine again. Everybody, men and mice, has a happy ending and everybody also gets their presents. It's a solid Christmas special, not a bad watch, but not among my favorites for the season either. Still, I recommend it.

I have always loved animation and Christmas specials. Rankin/Bass had already done some of my absolute favourites like Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty The Snowman and Santa Claus is Comin' To Town, and I remembered Twas the Night Before Christmas from childhood. So I thought to myself, why not revisit it? I am so glad I did. It really is a treasure. I personally would loved for it to be a tad longer, however the story still charms and the message still resonates. The animation perhaps is not the best I've seen from Rankin/Bass but it does have a certain warmth to it.I just love the music. All the Rankin/Bass specials have great music, and Twas the Night Before Christmas is no exception. The incidental music sparkles and of the songs Even a Miracle needs a hand makes me sing along and I have to say I forgot how emotional Give your heart a try was.Twas the Night Before Christmas has very good writing also, with the reciting of the poem Twas the Night Before Christmas bringing me back to my mum reading it at Christmas Eve to help us sleep and several parts coming across as touching. You really relate to the characters as well, even Albert, who wouldn't love talking mice though? The voice acting is very dynamic, with Joel Grey especially impressive. In conclusion, a Christmas treasure that brought all those memories back. 9/10 Bethany Cox