This and three other long "overdue" Rankin-Bass sequels (Rudolph and the Island of Misfit Toys, Here Comes Peter Cottontail the Movie, and Frosty Returns) are not well-liked by fans of their predecessors, and it's easy to see why. I watched The Legend of Frosty the Snowman on Cartoon Network a couple of times when I was little (I don't know what year or how old I was), and I liked it back then for some reason. In early 2015, I found it on Netflix and watched it for the first time in many years, and I still liked it. 3 years later, in early 2018, some not-so-great things about the movie randomly came to mind, and I realized it wasn't very faithful to the previous Frosty movies. I was starting to become neutral to it, and I anticipated I would later lose interest in it altogether and start to hate it at some point. At the time, I decided to watch it again at some point to help myself decide whether I should hate it or still be neutral to it, but I kept forgetting to. 2 years later, in late 2020, I found the full movie on YouTube, and I finally remembered to watch it. I watched the full movie and hated it since then. I can't believe I used to like it when I was younger. What was I thinking? Maybe I was blinded by my love of its predecessors. I've loved the original Frosty the Snowman and Frosty's Winter Wonderland for all my life, but I never thought The Legend of Frosty the Snowman was as good as them.
One of the biggest problems with the movie is that it has little to no connection to the previous movies, despite being a sequel to them. Frosty still has his original design (except in a different animation style), he still says "Happy Birthday!" when he comes to life, and the titular Frosty the Snowman song appears, but that's it. It doesn't follow up or acknowledge the events of the previous installments at all, making this more of a standalone movie. The only returning character is Frosty himself. Where are Karen, Hocus Pocus, Professor Hinkle, Santa Claus, the cop, Jack Frost, Crystal, and all the other Frosty characters? Did Frosty and Crystal divorce? Yes, there are characters in flashbacks who resemble characters from the original film, but they have different names and roles. Young Teddy Tinkerton resembles one of Karen's friends, and his father resembles Professor Hinkle. The titular character does look accurate to his original design as I mentioned, much to my liking, but I have one minor complaint about it: he has teeth, even though he had no teeth in the previous movies. Shockingly, the Frosty the Snowman song isn't in the story at all, only in the beginning and end credits. This isn't a musical, unlike its predecessors, much to my disapproval. The story is mostly about the winter season and has little to do with Christmas. No mention of Christmas is made at all. Like its predecessors, it's narrated by a celebrity: in this case, Burt Reynolds. The previous narrators are their voice actors in animated form, but this movie's narrator looks nothing like Burt Reynolds. Right before the end credits, a twist is revealed: he's an elderly version of the main character, Tommy Tinkerton, and he's now married to his childhood crush, Sara Simple.
The title is misleading. Our titular character doesn't appear until 10 minutes or so after the movie starts, and it's mostly about the kids. Enough said.
Frosty is flanderized here, and he's way off-character. A number of the other reviews say that his portrayal ripped off Patrick Star, and I'd have to agree. He also has Patrick's signature voice and is voiced by the same person who voices Patrick, Bill Fagerbakke. Why couldn't they hire somebody who can do a good impression of Jackie Vernon's Frosty to voice him? He is shown to have wintry powers here, like blowing wind and freezing things. Jack Frost always had these powers, not Frosty. He's not the Frosty the Snowman we all know and love. However, there is a brief scene where he is shown interacting with another Frosty. It's possible that the Frosty who appears for most of the movie is a Frosty clone or lookalike and the other one is the real deal, so maybe I'm not exaggerating.
Another one of the biggest problems with the movie is that they got Frosty's origin story wrong, which contradicts the events of the previous films. Tommy Tinkerton reads a comic book about Frosty, which shows that when his father, Teddy Tinkerton (who is currently the mayor of Evergreen, the main setting), was a kid, he built a snowman, named him Frosty, and put his (Teddy's) father's magic hat on Frosty while his father was running errands. The hat brought Frosty to life, and the two befriended each other. When Teddy got to school the next day, he told the other kids about Frosty. A kid named Hank Pankley (who is currently the principal of Tommy's school and the main villain) had a hard time believing Teddy and bullied him for it, which caused him to stop believing in magic and to think he made up Frosty for the longest time. Frosty's hat soon got locked in a treasure chest for many, many years, and that would mean the original Frosty, Frosty's Winter Wonderland, and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July never happened, so maybe this is non-canon to its predecessors. This story wasn't in the original Frosty at all.
The plot and writing are weak for the most part because a lot of moments are either never fully explained, never resolved, or downright mean-spirited. I already explained most of what makes Frosty's "origin story" weak, but it has a few plot holes that I didn't address before: it's not explained why Frosty's hat has been locked away for a long time, how the comic book about it came to be, why it exists, or why it acts the way it does. Also, is being bullied for believing in magic enough to stop believing in it? Magic is hard to come across, but Teddy has seen it right in front of himself before thanks to Frosty. The characters all live in a normal, no-nonsense world where magic isn't known to exist, which goes against the premises of the previous installments of the Frosty series. At first, all the kids are forced to be clones of their parents, much to their chagrins; Sara is forced to wear her hair in a bun like her mother and play the piano like one of her parents, Tommy and his brother Charlie are forced to be all work and no play people like their father, etc. Haven't the parents ever heard the importance of accepting others for who they are or being true to yourself? Yes, parents have authority over their kids until they're grown up (or until they move out of the house), but they should still support them expressing themselves, having imagination, etc. This is America, not North Korea. This is a free country, and besides, the world would be boring if everyone was the same. When Frosty's hat escapes the treasure chest, it flies to Tommy's friend Walter's house, Walter and the hat fly away together, and Frosty is resurrected, which brings me to another plot hole: since when did his hat have a mind of its own? He meets the kids of Evergreen, plays with them, and encourages them to follow their dreams and be themselves. The kids all take his advice, which leads to the rules breaking, Mayor Tinkerton losing his mind and stepping down from being mayor of Evergreen, and Principal Pankley becoming the new mayor. Mayor-Principal Pankley and the parents unite in an attempt to put an end to Frosty and his nonsense. The former is the worst character of them all and has some of the same rules Mayor Tinkerton made, but he's stricter, more threatening, and acts like a tyrannical parent. This so-called Legend of Frosty makes everyone's favorite snowman sound like a menace to society and gives both him and the idea of being different a bad name. There's nothing wrong with expressing yourself, and I still wouldn't like this movie if it was supposed to be its own thing. However, this problem is fixed later.
There are a couple of things I like about this, besides the connections to its predecessors: the ending and the moral, but that's it. At the end, the kids play in the snow together. One of them accidentally throws a snowball at one of the parents, and the latter finds enjoyment in that. All the parents play with the kids and have fun, and Mayor-Principal Pankley falls into frozen water and possibly dies. Teddy becomes the mayor again, reunites with Frosty, and starts to believe in magic again. All the parents finally let the kids have fun, let them not be all work and no play people anymore, tolerate Frosty, accept the kids for who they are, let them follow their dreams, and start to get along with them better. The story has a good moral: follow your heart.
Out of all the long "overdue" Rankin-Bass sequels, this one is the worst. It's nothing like the original Frosty the Snowman, and I do mean nothing. It feels like a remake of Frosty rather than a sequel (sort of). At least Rudolph and the Island of Misfit Toys and Here Comes Peter Cottontail the Movie acknowledge and follow up some of the events of their predecessors, bear some sort of resemblance to them, bring back some of the old characters besides the namesakes, and are musicals like their predecessors, but I can't say the same things about this abomination. Frosty Returns isn't as good as its predecessors either, and at least it's also a musical, but this heap of garbage is way more mean-spirited and horribly written. Don't watch this. Watch the original Frosty the Snowman, Frosty's Winter Wonderland, and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July instead.
One of the biggest problems with the movie is that it has little to no connection to the previous movies, despite being a sequel to them. Frosty still has his original design (except in a different animation style), he still says "Happy Birthday!" when he comes to life, and the titular Frosty the Snowman song appears, but that's it. It doesn't follow up or acknowledge the events of the previous installments at all, making this more of a standalone movie. The only returning character is Frosty himself. Where are Karen, Hocus Pocus, Professor Hinkle, Santa Claus, the cop, Jack Frost, Crystal, and all the other Frosty characters? Did Frosty and Crystal divorce? Yes, there are characters in flashbacks who resemble characters from the original film, but they have different names and roles. Young Teddy Tinkerton resembles one of Karen's friends, and his father resembles Professor Hinkle. The titular character does look accurate to his original design as I mentioned, much to my liking, but I have one minor complaint about it: he has teeth, even though he had no teeth in the previous movies. Shockingly, the Frosty the Snowman song isn't in the story at all, only in the beginning and end credits. This isn't a musical, unlike its predecessors, much to my disapproval. The story is mostly about the winter season and has little to do with Christmas. No mention of Christmas is made at all. Like its predecessors, it's narrated by a celebrity: in this case, Burt Reynolds. The previous narrators are their voice actors in animated form, but this movie's narrator looks nothing like Burt Reynolds. Right before the end credits, a twist is revealed: he's an elderly version of the main character, Tommy Tinkerton, and he's now married to his childhood crush, Sara Simple.
The title is misleading. Our titular character doesn't appear until 10 minutes or so after the movie starts, and it's mostly about the kids. Enough said.
Frosty is flanderized here, and he's way off-character. A number of the other reviews say that his portrayal ripped off Patrick Star, and I'd have to agree. He also has Patrick's signature voice and is voiced by the same person who voices Patrick, Bill Fagerbakke. Why couldn't they hire somebody who can do a good impression of Jackie Vernon's Frosty to voice him? He is shown to have wintry powers here, like blowing wind and freezing things. Jack Frost always had these powers, not Frosty. He's not the Frosty the Snowman we all know and love. However, there is a brief scene where he is shown interacting with another Frosty. It's possible that the Frosty who appears for most of the movie is a Frosty clone or lookalike and the other one is the real deal, so maybe I'm not exaggerating.
Another one of the biggest problems with the movie is that they got Frosty's origin story wrong, which contradicts the events of the previous films. Tommy Tinkerton reads a comic book about Frosty, which shows that when his father, Teddy Tinkerton (who is currently the mayor of Evergreen, the main setting), was a kid, he built a snowman, named him Frosty, and put his (Teddy's) father's magic hat on Frosty while his father was running errands. The hat brought Frosty to life, and the two befriended each other. When Teddy got to school the next day, he told the other kids about Frosty. A kid named Hank Pankley (who is currently the principal of Tommy's school and the main villain) had a hard time believing Teddy and bullied him for it, which caused him to stop believing in magic and to think he made up Frosty for the longest time. Frosty's hat soon got locked in a treasure chest for many, many years, and that would mean the original Frosty, Frosty's Winter Wonderland, and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July never happened, so maybe this is non-canon to its predecessors. This story wasn't in the original Frosty at all.
The plot and writing are weak for the most part because a lot of moments are either never fully explained, never resolved, or downright mean-spirited. I already explained most of what makes Frosty's "origin story" weak, but it has a few plot holes that I didn't address before: it's not explained why Frosty's hat has been locked away for a long time, how the comic book about it came to be, why it exists, or why it acts the way it does. Also, is being bullied for believing in magic enough to stop believing in it? Magic is hard to come across, but Teddy has seen it right in front of himself before thanks to Frosty. The characters all live in a normal, no-nonsense world where magic isn't known to exist, which goes against the premises of the previous installments of the Frosty series. At first, all the kids are forced to be clones of their parents, much to their chagrins; Sara is forced to wear her hair in a bun like her mother and play the piano like one of her parents, Tommy and his brother Charlie are forced to be all work and no play people like their father, etc. Haven't the parents ever heard the importance of accepting others for who they are or being true to yourself? Yes, parents have authority over their kids until they're grown up (or until they move out of the house), but they should still support them expressing themselves, having imagination, etc. This is America, not North Korea. This is a free country, and besides, the world would be boring if everyone was the same. When Frosty's hat escapes the treasure chest, it flies to Tommy's friend Walter's house, Walter and the hat fly away together, and Frosty is resurrected, which brings me to another plot hole: since when did his hat have a mind of its own? He meets the kids of Evergreen, plays with them, and encourages them to follow their dreams and be themselves. The kids all take his advice, which leads to the rules breaking, Mayor Tinkerton losing his mind and stepping down from being mayor of Evergreen, and Principal Pankley becoming the new mayor. Mayor-Principal Pankley and the parents unite in an attempt to put an end to Frosty and his nonsense. The former is the worst character of them all and has some of the same rules Mayor Tinkerton made, but he's stricter, more threatening, and acts like a tyrannical parent. This so-called Legend of Frosty makes everyone's favorite snowman sound like a menace to society and gives both him and the idea of being different a bad name. There's nothing wrong with expressing yourself, and I still wouldn't like this movie if it was supposed to be its own thing. However, this problem is fixed later.
There are a couple of things I like about this, besides the connections to its predecessors: the ending and the moral, but that's it. At the end, the kids play in the snow together. One of them accidentally throws a snowball at one of the parents, and the latter finds enjoyment in that. All the parents play with the kids and have fun, and Mayor-Principal Pankley falls into frozen water and possibly dies. Teddy becomes the mayor again, reunites with Frosty, and starts to believe in magic again. All the parents finally let the kids have fun, let them not be all work and no play people anymore, tolerate Frosty, accept the kids for who they are, let them follow their dreams, and start to get along with them better. The story has a good moral: follow your heart.
Out of all the long "overdue" Rankin-Bass sequels, this one is the worst. It's nothing like the original Frosty the Snowman, and I do mean nothing. It feels like a remake of Frosty rather than a sequel (sort of). At least Rudolph and the Island of Misfit Toys and Here Comes Peter Cottontail the Movie acknowledge and follow up some of the events of their predecessors, bear some sort of resemblance to them, bring back some of the old characters besides the namesakes, and are musicals like their predecessors, but I can't say the same things about this abomination. Frosty Returns isn't as good as its predecessors either, and at least it's also a musical, but this heap of garbage is way more mean-spirited and horribly written. Don't watch this. Watch the original Frosty the Snowman, Frosty's Winter Wonderland, and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July instead.