Film Reviews: Christmas Edition 12: Prancer

In Loving Memory of Theresa Stevens

“He will continue to make glad the heart of childhood”

Prancer is a movie that tugs on my heart. Not necessarily, because it is just that good, but because I have some really good memories related to this film. For me, this film has high nostalgic value. It is funny how certain memories can become solidified forever.

The first and last time I remember ever watching Prancer all the way thru was when I was very little. The movie is as old as I am so I could have watched this every year—I do not remember. What I do remember is that this was before any real stress in life, at a time where innocence reined supreme, when the month of December seemed longer than October and November put together, and Christmas Eve crept by like a year. It was before our household got an edition and I am pretty sure it was after my sister was born. In our old living room, Prancer was playing I think rented from blockbuster back when there were still blockbusters and when all movies were on VHS. My grandmother was babysitting me and I remember watching with her while she was backing her famous oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies. This is one of my most brief, memorable, and happiest, simple moments of my childhood. I am actually starting to tear up because it has only been a little over a year since my grandmother died.

The movie is about a young girl whose dad, played by the great Sam Elliot no less, is an apple farmer. They are not a poor family per se, but they are close to the line. Jessica, the girl, is the portrait of wide-eyed innocence where Christmas does seem to take forever, anything is possible, and even though her mother died, still has glasses of whimsy on.

The film starts out with a Christmas play done by Jessica’s class or grade, I am not sure which. Now I don’t have a problem with this exactly, however, it got me thinking, what do the non-Christian children do—they either feel left out for deciding not to participate, or they participate in something that they feel is irrelevant to them. I am not saying that schools should not put on nativity plays; I am just saying that alongside that, perhaps they could put on a play about Judah Maccabee. I know it is a long and bloody story, but if the Rugrats can do it than so can an elementary school. It was just a quick thought I had

Anyway—after the play, while Jessica is walking home, she stops by a section of road where people are hanging up Santa in his sled as well as the eight reindeer. Jessica is naming them off but when she gets to Prancer, the plastic reindeer falls to the road and breaks in two. This confused me when I was a child. I thought that the plastic deer was a literal representation of the actual deer and it came to life after falling, since it fell, that explains why its leg it hurt. After watching this with older eyes, I realize that this is magical foreshadowing of events to come.

Sam Elliot wants to kill the deer because A) the first time he sees the deer he notices the wounded leg and he is of the mind set of putting it out of its misery and 2) unaware it is the same deer with the bum leg, he wants to shoot the deer that is eating the little trees on his property.

There is a side plot in which Jessica needs $15.00 to pay for a bog of oats to feed Prancer. She earns the money cleaning up, what appears to be the music room, of a wealthy old recluse and in the end Jessica helps the woman to remember what Christmas cheer it and helps her to get out of the house and become a part of the community again.

Jessica tries to get a letter to Santa explaining where his reindeer is by giving it to a fake Santa at the mall, which even she knows is fake, but figures he could help her. It turns out he is friends with a newspaper columnist who ends up doing a column on Jessica’s story.

At this point, I would like to talk about this column and the quote I gave at the beginning of the review. The quote is from an editorial written in 1897 answering a girl’s question of whether or not there is a Santa. It was titled “Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus”—this is also the title of the editorial in Prancer making reference to this wonderfully written piece which I will post at the end of this blog for those interested.

The movie is not my favorite but it does have that nostalgia going for it. It is not a bad film either. In fact, it is pretty well done. The acting on the children’s parts are better than average, the story is original, the deer is real and sounds just like Comet in The Santa Clause, meaning that the automaton reindeer sounded accurate, I like the films message about childhood and belief and faith in things (another parallel with The Santa Clause), and the cinematography is effective as well. Overall, I give Prancer 3.75 out of 5 stars. It is also a great pick for family movie night.

“Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, and no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and slight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and un-seeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which neither the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.”

—Francis P. Church

Also, a sequel came out a few years ago and I am not sure how to feel about that because in my experience, sequels to classic Christmas movies usually suck. I haven’t seen it so I can’t really comment but if I do you can count on me reviewing it.