This is Halloween! This is Halloween! Oh…. wrong Jack. (Think SNOW!)
Jack Frost, an interesting character with a lot to say through his snow habits, ends up falling for a girl in a town called January Junction. The girl’s name is Elisa. Because he’s Jack Frost, he can’t simply go up to her and express himself, so Old-man winter allows him to become a human until springtime. Not a bad deal at all, he becomes human and hangs out with Elisa, only to find out that Elisa, like the rest of the village, is being oppressed by an evil man named Kubla Kraus the Cossack. Wanting to stop him, Jack has to step into his role as Jack Frost and take care of business. In the end, he takes care of the bad guy, freeing up Elisa and her village, but Elisa’s heart ends up going to another, which propels Jack Frost back into his role as Old-man winter’s assistant.
I don’t know about anyone else, but this story seems incredibly sad to me, though at the end Jack does take the rejection very well. Elisa’s semi-betrayal is justified, but does our main-man Jack Frost no true justice. This guy practically stopped evil Kubla himself. That’s his job though, so it worked out in the long run. In all seriousness, Jack Frost is a wonderful film from 1979 that brings back such good thoughts of this stop-motion animation that brought many touching and wonderful stories to life. This is far better than the Michael Keaton movie of the same name.
For younger children this will be a treasured classic. The stop-motion animation brings such innocence and playfulness to the screen that the youngest of viewers will embrace just like their parents did when it first debuted on television (yes, it actually debuted on television). I’m happy that Warner Brothers treats these classics with such dignity and style and gives the thumbs up to preserve them on DVD.
Get Flakey as you sing
There are only two features on the Jack Frost, but they aren’t too bad. The first is a short on how to make Christmas decorations and goodies without spending too much money. A very flakey girl named Flakey (go figure) shows kids how to make snowflakes out of paper, snow globes and snow sculptures. It’s neat, kids would love it, but parents should certainly help out only when they can supervise their kids. The second feature is a sing-a-long with the groundhog Snip. Again, kids will eat this up, parents might enjoy it. It’s not about the parents though.
Again, short in features, but definitely good on intentions. For $19.97 you can’t really beat it.