4/5 Ethel and Rudolph! Whirly, Burly!
  by Rob
There is only one reason to get this particular edition of Rudolph's adventure in winter wonderland, and that's Ethel Merman's cowgirl character of master of ceremonies for a way out circus featuring a special Christmas In July show. This production itself is watchable, although the ice villain can become irritating with his overlong conference of a magic mirror type inside a crystal cavern. The circus is fun with alot of characters, and I liked that outcast reindeer in cahoots with the ice villain to ensure Rudolph's nose does not glow for long.
I actually like the songs in this feature regarding the circus and parade, and I especially enjoy Ethel's take on her character, it so endearing and rather humorous. Ethel is actually the only credit for this animation fiasco, and I did like the ice villain's demise sequence, but I wont say how. Frosty and his family are a bit in the way here, because it is still Rudolph's calamity adventure and I sympathized with his goof in being tricked by the bad reindeer's set up to frame him. The ice villain's evil creatures are curious, and the cavern magic mirror gives the whole scenario the typical edge we'd might expect from this kind of production. Still, Ethel Merman steals the show with character and songs, and I love her everytime she's on the screen. It's Ethel and Rudolph all the way, in this version of a wintery wonderland saga.

5/5 Great Christmas classic
  by Denise Moran (Omaha, NE)
Great Christmas classic, always enjoy watching, must have for home to watch over and over.

1/5 Ugh!
  by Roberto Grau (Chicago, IL)
The first 15 minutes of this was enough. Yes I have seen the whole thing, eventually. I was and am still shocked at how the Rudolph and Frosty storylines were allowed to be butchered in such a way. With Winterbolt, the origin of Rudolph's nose, and all the other sci-fi characters, you'd think the writers were on acid while putting this abominable script together. There is zero holiday spirit here. It's just terrible. Unwatchable. And once and for all, as with all of the Rudolph sequels...can we establish the fact that Rudolph was GROWN UP by the time he was pulling Santa's sleigh?? Yet all of the sequels star a BABY Rudolph. I hate to get fired up about a kids special, but there is just so much wrong with this thing. Thank God its not on network TV, or there'd be way more outrage than what I'm expressing. I can't believe ABC Family even bothers themselves. It is really that bad. Trust me!

4/5 Another Rankin/Bass Christmas Classic
  by Dunestar
Many used to recall ABC originally aired most of the Rankin/Bass Ani-Magic stop-motion specials while CBS aired Rudolph and the animated Frosty (of course, the Frosty spin-off, Frosty's Winter Wonderland was aired on ABC).

So witnessing the original special on ABC was definitely a treat and the fact both were actually put into Ani-Magic rather than just animation. The clever thing I loved about Rankin/Bass was how they could take something and give it a unique spin.

'Christmas in July,' was originally a name of a film, and later used by retailers as sort of a connotation of Summer Sales. But here, Rankin/Bass put a whole new unique origin behind Rudolph's red nose. Apparently before St. Nick wound up at the North Pole (with great allusions to the other Rankin/Bass specials, by the way), there was a wicked wizard known as Winterbolt.

After centuries of observing his ruthless, and apathetic ways, the Lady Borealis decided on taking action and sealing the wizard into a deep sleep with her magic. Regrettably, as Time marched on, Lady Borealis realized she could no longer contain the vile wizard. So with the remaining bit of her magic, she placed a spell upon a young reindeer, and as a result, he inherited a glowing red nose.

Ironically, Winterbolt discovers things have changed at the North Pole, and decides to spoil Santa's reputation with the children of the world. Inspired by his infamous genie of the staff (which obviously the Genie was getting his schemes from the Brain), Winterbolt uses his Ice Dragons to whip up a horrible winter storm on Christmas Eve. But as the story goes, Rudolph saved the day (note, no mention of Yukon, Hermie or the Snow Beast is mentioned here, which makes one wonder if the Snow Beast was once in the employ of Winterbolt, but let's not start analyzing here).

Naturally, Winterbolt isn't thrilled with this outcome, until he discovers if Rudolph dares use his nose for a selfish and wicked purpose, the reindeer's nose will be extinguished. After a brief futile attempt in doing so with the direct approach, Winterbolt retreats to his castle and learns about Milton, the Ice Cream man.

Every July, Milton comes and picks up a batch of ice cream for the Sea Side Circus at the Beach from the storehouse Santa lets him use. Except this time, Milton has his own problems. Milton's in love with the circus' tightrope walker, and naturally proposed to her. But on the day of their wedding, an evil carney has come to foreclose on the circus. (Here Ethyl Merman plays not only as the tightrope walker's mother, but owner and ringmaster of the circus.) And unless the circus can raise the money in time, there will be no more circus.

Mind you, this show was done in the Eighties, so you have to suspend some disbelief, since Winterbolt jumps at the chance for a scheme. Here, Milton suggests if Rudolph and Frosty come back with him, people from miles around would pay to see them. Though Frosty's kids and Crystal would love to go to the circus, Frosty reminds them if they went to the beach in July, they'd instantly melt.

Enter Winterbolt, who kindly pretends to help the Snow Family with special amulets to protect them from the heat. The catch, the amulets' powers cease when the final firework on the Fourth fades away. Naturally, it doesn't take Columbo to see what ol' Winterbolt has in store.

Anyway, rather than spoil the rest of the plot for you. This was one of Rankin/Bass' better holiday excursions because it was the first one to use several past Rudolph and Santa Claus specials to tie-in some of the backstories as well as provide a means for moving the plot along.

Now the interesting thing I note about 'Christmas In July,' was the writers currently were using specials which were aired more frequently on the networks. Because you'll notice a lot of cameos from characters from the current past specials, but at the same time, you wonder what happened to certain characters from the original specials of both Rudolph and Frosty. But the good thing here is, the story is rather well-conceived, you don't really care too much about continuity here.

And the real funny thing most people don't remember, before ABC Family started airing this special in July. I can recall when local cable channels started doing 'Christmas in July,' gimmicks for Summers sweeps, and the first thing they'd air was this special. However unlike this DVD version, the syndicated version had been edited for time constraints, so sometimes the altered one made no sense in several spots.

Overall, 'Christmas in July,' was one of those great specials you'd see in a blue moon, and was one of the rare ones which wasn't marred by commericalism you now see in most Holiday specials, or contain preachy morals as well. It was just fun to watch. Whether you're watching this during the Holidays, or on the Fourth, 'Christmas in July,' is definitely a purchase worth getting.

5/5 love the chrisi cartoons
  by K. allan (wollongong AUST)


I always loved these cartoons growing up, i always looked forward to christmas because of all the cartoons, but unfortunatly they dont play them on the tv anymore. i have 3 little kids any they watched them every single day.i think these cartoons are the best, and im an adult and i still look forward to watching them.