Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

The acting in this movie is really good.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Somewhere in the middle of this movie, our main character is in a bind in a mail truck. Looking around, she finds a package, addressed to her, that helps get her out of it. The sender? Deus ex Machina. It is quite common for children's movie makers, especially in the animated genre, to try to be modern, hip - to push the limits of their audience. The results are usually just vulgar - anyone who ever watched 8 Crazy Nights, regardless of their opinions on the rude, contrived piece - can't help but wonder if it is appropriate for all children, at least those whose behavior we have to live with. Olive is witty, funny, and original, and yet there is no smart- alecky kid, no fart jokes - it's interesting because it's tightly written, well-crafted, and voiced by excellent people. Several people have written about Ms. Barrymore's voice in it - it's laughable to imply that she had meant to create a refined, beautiful sound, as well as a bit sexist. No one questioned that Dan Castellaneta (read: Homer Simpson) also sings an off-key silly song - but Drew Barrymore is compared to Alicia Keys? No, if a Dog - no, a dog who was eager, sweet, and unflappably lovable - had a speaking and singing voice, hers would be it. Altogether, I can think of no modern Christmas or holiday special (Martini, Olive's penguin friend, is Jewish, somehow), that succeeds in being warm, smart, and interesting all at the same time. There is no preaching, no moralizing, and yet, it leaves you feeling good about being good, almost the same way the Charlie Brown Christmas Special did just over 40 years ago. There's a fine line between sappy and sweet, rude and witty - Olive the Other Reindeer stands firmly on the good side of that line.

My wife, 5-year-old daughter, and I ran across this special last year. Seeing Drew Barrymore's name gave me some pause, as she had recently flashed David Letterman while giving him a birthday dance, so I wondered if this special was actually going to be suitable for family viewing, and not some subversive story with a Christmas theme. Well, I definitely over-thought this one: "Olive" was absolutely wonderful, and unexpectedly charming (a very rare commodity these days). Her voice work was heartfelt, and a truly eclectic list of other voices, ranging from Joe Pantoliano to co-producer Michael Stipe (whose experience in cartoons includes his hilarious appearance on the funniest "Space Ghost" episode ever-#17, "Hungry") keeps this story light and humorous. The animation style was appropriate to the story and, apparently, to the source material (I have not yet seen the book). I recommend it!

One of the least accomplished episodes of "The Simpsons" was "Insane Clown Poppy," with Drew Barrymore as the voice of Krusty's illegitimate daughter Sophie. Happily, she and Matt Groening pre-emptively made up for this in 1999 with the charming "Olive, the Other Reindeer," which they executive produced, and which featured one of them (hint: not Matt) as the voice of the title character.When Santa Claus faces a crisis that may mean his deliveries won't get through, lovable dog Olive mishears him on the radio hoping to depend on "all of the other reindeer," and believing that Mr. Kringle is counting on her, she's off to the North Pole with the help of her penguin friend Martini, but with a conniving postman (!) out to stop her. Only Scrooge would not be rooting for Olive and Martini to succeed in the course of this special, not least with the warm and winning voice work (particularly Barrymore as our four-legged friend, Joe Pantoliano cast against type as good guy Martini, and Michael Stipe as one of Santa's reindeer - who has a very funny joke about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer). A good, heartwarming story with computer animation from DNA Productions that looks more traditionally cartoony than the norm, which is not a bad thing here; Drew also does her own singing, and it must be said that she won't be giving Alicia Keys a run for her money - but her scrappy enthusiasm on her numbers ("Merry Christmas After All" provides an oddly endearing blend of Miss Barrymore's slightly flat vocalising and the truly musical Big Bad Voodoo Daddy) only adds to the special's charm. Funny and non-sick-making, this is up there with Channel 4's adaptation of "Father Christmas" and some of Rankin/Bass's seasonal cartoons in the winner stakes; one to tape."Warp speed, captain!"

This has been somewhat overlooked, but it really is a terrific special. It's clever and witty (a characteristic that you don't see enough of these days). Olive is a dog, who thinks she can substitute for one of Santa's reindeer and save Christmas. The choice of villain is inspired -- a mailman who wants to stop Christmas so he won't have to deliver all the cards. Not a lot of big laughs, but it's filled with gentle smiles.The voice work is excellent, and the style is outstanding. There's little attempt to be "realistic," but rather it looks like a picture book (and seems to be sticking closely to the style of the original book).