Just perfect...

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

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.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Extremely well thought out, scripted, and CGI'd (acted)? There are reindeer that look they are on steroids, an extremely well organized elf force that oversees Santa's prelaunch then the actual launch and then directing Santa through weather fair and foul to the kid's house's (Air Force eat your heart out):). The main character is Wayne a long time Prep and landing elf. His job is to go to kid's houses and prepare for Santa's landing. When he doesn't get the promotion he thought he was, he get's a bad attitude. This leads to a kid waking up and seeing them at work but here some of the great thinking shows up, they have a forget it ornament that causes the people who get hit to forget. Learning his lesson Wayne guides Santa and his sleigh to the house through some weather that almost caused a "figgy pudding", a bypass of the house. So every thing turns out well, Wayne gets offered a promotion but turns it down to stay with P&L. There is humor here for kid's and grown ups and I thoroughly enjoy this one every Christmas time.

When Pixar and Disney unite in order to shoot a half-hour special for the Christmas holidays starring a bunch of elves, you'd expect nothing but greatness looking at how both have delivered in the animation sector for decades. Unfortunately, despite its success with the Emmys, I thought the final result came rather short. Wayne, the lead character is played by prolific voice actor Dave Foley. Also on board are Sarah Chalke (Roseanne), starring in one of the later Scrubs seasons at that point, Peter Jacobsen (House M.D.) and Derek Richardson, who's currently playing alongside Charlie Sheen in Anger Management.Veteran elf Wayne's partner gets promoted, so he has to deal with a new guy on his side. Lanny faces quite the task as Wayne's perception of Christmas a heartfelt event has considerably decreased over the years and at that point, it's really nothing but business anymore for him. Can Lanny's approach rekindle the Christmas spirit in Wayne? I think it's a decent short film that can be watched all year, not just during Christmas, primarily by younger audiences though. For grown-ups, it just falls a bit flat. The reckoning of the Christmas spirit part could have been all kinds of great, but unfortunately it's not emotionally investing as I had hoped for. The fact that the main character just pretty much performs a 180°-turn about the subject within seconds makes it look quite rushed. Also I didn't really like the way Foley voiced the main character and that has a huge impact on the perception of the whole film of course. Here and there, it gets funny, like the part where he tells Magee to put him through or he'll tell everybody about her involvement with ... The whole thing is an okay effort, but really could have been so much more.

I generally loathe Christmas movies (Its A Wonderful Life is an exception) and Christmas cartoons are usually worse. This is a little masterpiece - helmed by John Lasseter, how could it go wrong? There is a perfect marriage of material that children and adults can enjoy, much the same as most of the Pixar projects. The voice overs are excellent and the whole thing manages to sidestep the mawkish and still remains magical. The animation is of the usual high quality and the writing is terrific. it bears rewatching and is sure to be part of a regular Christmas TV schedule. Why cannot others manage to do this? Surely Pixar are not the only production company with good writers, animators and directors. The problem is,I guess, that Lasseter has set the bar so high it is almost impossible to compete with such a fantastic talent.

I love watching Christmas cartoons, but no one has given us anything new in years. This is a gem. It is brilliant, charming, comedic, and heartwarming. Not to mention a terrific cast for the voices. For those who complain about the military aspect, you are reading too much into this, the cartoon is simply showing that it takes a lot to put the Christmas experience together, it's a big operation which needs some kind of structure to pull this miracle off all in one night. I truly loved every little bit of this story, the comedy was smart and works for adults as well as children. Best part I have to say is the very end with Lanny and his fruit cake, his reaction(expression) - PRICELESS!!! This should become the new standard of classics. Hope we'll see this one every year and more of these characters in the future.