''Santa vs. the Snowman'' is a 1997 American

computer-animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refe ...

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

created by

Steve Oedekerk Steven Brent Oedekerk (born November 27, 1961) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, director, editor, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his collaborations with actor and comedian Jim Carrey and director Tom Shadyac (particular ...

and produced by O Entertainment. It originally aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

on December 13, 1997 following ''The Online Adventures of Ozzie the Elf''. The special was voiced by

Jonathan Winters Jonathan Harshman Winters III (November 11, 1925 – April 11, 2013) was an American comedian, actor, author, television host, and artist. Beginning in 1960, Winters recorded many classic comedy albums for the Verve Records label. He also h ...

Ben Stein Benjamin Jeremy Stein (born November 25, 1944) is an American writer, lawyer, actor, comedian, and commentator on political and economic issues. He began his career as a speechwriter for U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford before ente ...

Victoria Jackson Victoria Jackson (born August 2, 1959) is an American actress, comedian, and singer who was a cast member of the NBC television sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (SNL) from 1986 to 1992. Early life Jackson was born in Miami, Florida ...

Mark DeCarlo Mark DeCarlo is an American actor, television host, comedian, travel, internet personality, and foodie expert. He is currently known for being a contributor to WLS-TV morning show ''Windy City Live'', a locally produced Chicago program that rep ...

and David Floyd, and narrated by Don LaFontaine. Relations to other films, like a scene of ice-made AT-ST's, mostly resembling the ones from '' The Empire Strikes Back'' appear throughout. In 2002, the special was released in

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

3D as ''Santa vs. the Snowman 3D'', with new scenes at the beginning and end of the film.

Plot

A lonely Snowman has no friends and never learned to speak because nobody was around. Instead, he plays his flute for the stars every night. But one particular night, the stars answer back; a flash of light zooms past the Snowman and shatters his flute. Consumed with curiosity, the Snowman sets off to find out what created the mysterious light. Eventually, the Snowman finds himself at Santa's Village. The Snowman enters a toy workshop, where elves are making toys. Another elf comes into the workshop with its' owner, Santa Claus. While Santa is chatting with his elves, who praise him highly, the Snowman finds a red and gold flute in the workshop. After grabbing the flute, an alarm goes off. The Snowman retreats, but Santa sends some of his elves to retrieve the flute. While being chased, the Snowman drops the flute, and hides from the elves by jumping off a cliff. He grabs an icicle stalactite, waiting for them to leave. After the elves retrieve the flute and return to the village, the Snowman heads home. The Snowman cannot stop thinking about Santa and his wonderful workshop. It seems that Santa has a marvelous home, many friends, plenty of toys, and is loved by everybody, but he wouldn't let the Snowman have the flute. The Snowman imagines himself as Santa, giving out toys, loved by everyone. At that moment, the Snowman thinks, "Why should Santa keep all that love, good tidings, and friendship for himself? That didn't seem fair. Maybe, it's time someone ''else'' got to be Santa?" With that, the Snowman forms a plan to take Santa's spot. The Snowman sneaks onto a guided village train tour, where he takes pictures with a camera disguised as an ice cream cone. The Snowman gets off the train and admires Santa's sleigh, where he is noticed and kicked out. The Snowman then makes various equipment for invading the workshop, and snowman minions to help him, becoming a much more ''devious'' Snowman. The Snowman and his minions invade Santa's Village, but Santa sends his elves to fight back, in a chaotic battle. The elves attempt to melt and blow up the snowmen while the snowmen spew snowballs at the elves. Since Christmas is only hours away, Santa decides to help his elves end the conflict, and enters the battle in a large Nutcracker mech. The Snowman unleashes a snow monster, but Santa's mech defeats the monster by shrinking it with a heat gun. Just when it seems that Snowman is about to surrender, many more of his minions appear, greatly outnumbering Santa's forces. With that, Santa and his elves are imprisoned in an ice cage, and the Snowman leaves to deliver toys. The Snowman, feeling wonderful because everyone will soon love him, soars above the rooftops in a snow replica of Santa's sleigh, while his minions act as his reindeer. The Snowman arrives at a little girl's house and enters through the front door. An elf named Flippy frees Santa and his elves, and Santa heads to the Snowman's location. The Snowman gives the girl an ice doll, but the doll shatters, and his other toys melted near the fireplace. Santa arrives and gives the girl a real doll. Instead of punishing the Snowman, Santa, knowing the Snowman regrets what he did, gives him the flute he attempted to steal. Santa explains to the Snowman that the flute always belonged to him because Santa accidentally broke the other flute, and that he could've given joy to people on his own, without taking over Santa's operations. As they are about to part ways, the Snowman discovers that his sleigh and his minions had melted from the heat of the little girl's chimney. Santa offers the Snowman a ride back home, and they become friends.

Cast

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

* Don LaFontaine as the Narrator *

as Spunky the Elf *

as Elves *

as Flippy the Elf and Security Elf *David Floyd as Bundis the Elf *Jean DeLisle as Kids *

John A. Davis John Alexander Davis (born October 26, 1961) is an American film director, writer, animator, voice actor and composer known for his work both in stop-motion animation as well as computer animation, live action and live-action/CGI hybrids. Davis ...

as Elves *Keith Alcorn as Charlie the Elf *

as Sno' Hellton *

Dee Bradley Baker Dee Bradley Baker (born August 31, 1962) is an American voice actor. Much of Baker's work features vocalizations of animals and monsters. Baker's roles include animated series such as ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'', ''Codename: Kids Next Door'', ...

as Elves

Release

Originally made as a television special in December 1997, the film was later presented in

IMAX 3D IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

theaters during the November 2002–November 2006 holiday seasons. Three bonus features included an interactive game narrated by Oedekerk, but no

featurette In the American film industry, a featurette is a kind of film that is shorter than a full-length feature, but longer than a short film. The term may refer to either of two types of content: a shorter film or a companion film. Medium-length film ...

or commentary. ''Santa vs. the Snowman 3D'' was released on 3D-DVD, including 4 pairs of

3D glasses Stereoscopy (also called stereoscopics, or stereo imaging) is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stereoscopic image is ...

, on October 12, 2004, by

Universal Studios Home Video Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...

. It offered optional 2D or 3D viewing. The film grossed $10.1M according to

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

Reception

The film received a rating of 81% from

, making it

' highest

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

review.

Awards

In 2003, ''Santa vs. the Snowman'' was awarded a Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing in Special Venue Fil

Sound editors: * Tim Archer (supervising sound editor/ re-recording mixer) * Brian Eimer (supervising sound editor/ re-recording mixer) * Carl Lenox (music editor) * Dan Shattuck (sound editor) * Grant McAlpine (sound editor) * Regan Ramos (sound editor)

References

External links

* {{Steve Oedekerk 1997 animated films 1997 films 1997 television specials 2002 films 2002 computer-animated films 2002 3D films 1990s American animated films 1990s American television specials 1990s animated television specials 2000s American animated films 2000s animated short films American Christmas films Computer-animated short films DNA Productions films Films scored by Harvey Cohen Films directed by John A. Davis IMAX short films Santa Claus in film Films with screenplays by John A. Davis Films with screenplays by Steve Oedekerk American computer-animated films 3D animated short films