Watched this post-Christmas-dinner by accident on PPV (I thought it was something else) and discovered why it's never shown on network television any more: A complete lack of racial sensitivity, political correctness, or a single verse that didn't make you simultaneously cringe and laugh (and not in a good way).
The villain is basically a Stalin character (red outfit, black beard, starving the peasants, etc.); snow is made by 'gypsies'; the 'parents' have eastern European accents but the 'kids' don't (they may live in some impoverished Russia-like country, but apparently the kids are second-generation Americans). My husband remarked that the whole thing was a classic 'evil overlord vs the poor peasants' kind of Communist manifesto.
I personally was more annoyed by the simultaneous existence of King Arthur's knights and iron horses and the horrible, horrible songs.
I'm thinking that if you first saw this as a child of 5, watching it by the Christmas tree on a countdown to Christmas Eve sometime during the Cold War, you may have some fondness for it. Otherwise, steer clear.
The villain is basically a Stalin character (red outfit, black beard, starving the peasants, etc.); snow is made by 'gypsies'; the 'parents' have eastern European accents but the 'kids' don't (they may live in some impoverished Russia-like country, but apparently the kids are second-generation Americans). My husband remarked that the whole thing was a classic 'evil overlord vs the poor peasants' kind of Communist manifesto.
I personally was more annoyed by the simultaneous existence of King Arthur's knights and iron horses and the horrible, horrible songs.
I'm thinking that if you first saw this as a child of 5, watching it by the Christmas tree on a countdown to Christmas Eve sometime during the Cold War, you may have some fondness for it. Otherwise, steer clear.