Toon Zone Talkback - "A Miser Brothers Christmas" Is Retro-Fitted Family Fun

H

hilissa

New member
This is the talkback thread for "A Miser Brothers Christmas" Is Retro-Fitted Family Fun.

splash-miserxmas.jpg


I'm too much.

And if this special has a number that outdoes the original "Heat Miser/Cold Miser" song, then I think it might be worth a watch for that alone. One of my favorite songs on my holiday music mix is a cover version of that song by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy which rocks very, very hard.
 
It is a nice special, but I wouldn't say that it's better than the original. There's more of an emotional touch with its storyline. The main thing that's this special has over the original is the artwork. If I remember correctly, when I saw this special last year, I thought that they overused the "I'm Too Much" song that was more like a fun treat in the original special.
 
Er, there was no original special that they starred in. Snow Miser and Heat Miser were supporting players in The Year Without A Santa Claus, not the stars. They just turned out to be the most memorable characters (mostly due to their song) and that's why they were promoted to star status here. Concerning the special itself, Heat Miser was good, but Snow Miser was awful. Yes, no-one can replace Dick Shawn, but Juan Chioran could have at least tried to imitate the style and characterization Shawn gave Snow Miser.
 
I remember watching this while babysitting some kids last year and finding it pretty "meh" overall. :shrug: I think if anything it perhaps serves as proof of why Snow Miser and Heat Miser were in supporting roles in the original "Year Without A Santa Claus"--there's not really enough material for them to be the central focus of an entire special, especially if you have to put in full-blown reprises of "I'm Too Much" 2-3 times, IMO. And then there was that song from Mrs. Claus that went something along the lines of "Brooootheerrrrs should shaaaaaaaaarrrrree and carrrreee and not fiiiiiggghhht..." -shudder-
 
I also kind of hate how it just recycles the designs from Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer instead of building on the refined designs from The Year Without A Santa Clause.
 
Personally I think this pails in comparison to the rankin/Bass specials, Not because of the visuals, no those are great, but the Dialouge is so cheesy, even cheesier then the old stuff, I could barely sit through it, I mean Im all for trying to make somthing new look retro, but you could at least make it feel like it was somthing for all ages to enjoy, and not somthing written for a 5 year old.:sweat:

No offense again loved the animation, & overall story, but the dialouge stank worse then that french cheese everyone talks about.:sweat::evil:
 
They tried a live-action version of YWaSC a few years ago (Harvey Firestein was Heat Miser) and it was a giant cluster ....

So was this.

Certain characters shine best as role players, not headliners. Think Lenny & Squiggy or Bulk & Skull.

I don't begrudge the effort but you see why certain things are left well enough alone.
 
One thing they should have improved on is the songs. They should have tried to get Maury Laws (who's still around and active) to do the music for this special. After all, unlike the other Rankin-Bass specials, Laws has a page just for the Miser songs, so it's unlikely he would have said no if they had asked.

Then again, it was Bass who wrote the lyrics, so the songs probably still would have lousy words either way. The BGM music at least would have sounded like the old specials though.
 
Back
Top