everything you have heard about this movie is true.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

This is another half-hour Christmas special from almost 40 years ago and Rankin & Bass made quite a few of them. Here they reunite with their regular writer Romeo Muller again. I have to say I liked the first Frosty short film, but in this one here, there just aren't too many interesting or moving factors sadly. The villain and Frosty's interactions with his new wife only had me glued to the screen for a very short time and I also do not think it was a good idea to make Andy Griffith's narrator visible in here. Oh yeah, Frosty's wife is voiced by 2-time Academy award winner Shelley Winters. All in all, I felt that this film lacked a bit of heart, which is quite a shame as the topic of getting a real permanent companion for Frosty offered lots of potential in that regard. But they came short. Not recommended.

Frosty's kind of lonely, so the kids think of making him a wife, Crystal. But will Jack Frost let them be happy? While maybe not as powerful or memorable as the original, this cartoon deserves very much to be in the must-see canon of Christmas specials. The team of Rankin and Bass (not to mention Romeo Muller) consistently pumped out good specials year after year. Did they ever make a bad one? Personally, I like this one better than some of the others simply because it has Andy Griffith, an actor I am quite fond of. With all due respect to Burl Ives and Fred Astaire, Griffith is the kind of guy who excelled at telling folksy stories (even if this was typecasting him).

Friendly Frosty the Snowman (voiced to amiable perfection by Jackie Vernon) returns from the North Pole to see the kids just like he promised to. Alas, Frosty feels lonely. So the kids make Frosty a wife named Crystal (given an endearingly sweet voice by Shelley Winters). But jealous Jack Frost (legendary voice actor supreme Paul Frees in peak snarky form) intervenes. This typically fine seasonal TV special from the ever reliable duo of Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr. possesses the usual sterling attributes: a gentle, happy tone, lovable characters (even Jack Frost ultimately turns out to be a decent dude), nifty animation, an engagingly simple and straightforward story, several catchy'n'cheery songs, a pleasant, merry score by Maury Laws, a tight running time, and a charming and touching central message about the need for companionship. Andy Griffith makes for a marvelously folksy narrator and even gets to belt out a few tunes in a hale'n'hearty singing voice. A real treat.

I got to admit that this is a perfect sequel to the FROSTY THE SNOWMAN tale. Narrated this time by Andy Griffith and with Shelly Winters as the voice of Crystal, it's the perfect addition to the story of Frosty the Snowman. Now I got to admit, the animation took a slight downgrade from the first cartoon and has a 'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE Christmas look to it. But even the slightly less then perfect animation isn't dampening my fondness for this series of movies, in my book RANKIN AND BASS does it again. The story is cool, the voice talents is cool, the music is cool, the humor is cool. Other then the animation I can't think of one bad thing to say about this holiday special. Again, if you aren't into Christmas this isn't for you. I give it 10 STARS