not horrible nor great

disgusting, overrated, pointless

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

"Santa's Surprise" is an 8.5-minute cartoon from 1947, so this one has its 70th anniversary this year. The names of director Seymour Kneitel and voice actors Mercer and Questel may be known to those who love animated (short) films from the old days, the Golden Age of Animation. This one here is a little work for Christmas and the tables are turned as a gang of kids gets the presents to Santa this time and they come from all kinds of different places as you see from their looks and skin colors. This is basically all the story that is to it. The introduction to Santa in the first 2 minutes felt really random and the story overall was a bit thin here. This Little Audrey film by Famous Studios never really makes an impact, even if it admittedly gets a bit better after the first 2 minutes, mostly because the character animation for the kids is way better than Santa's. But the plot is never really on an interesting level and even the music is underwhelming. Quite a shame. This could have been much better with more attention to detail as the general idea is fairly solid. I give this one a thumbs-down. Not recommended.

BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM HONEST Santa's Surprise is a 1947 Christmas-themed Noveltoon animated short. It was originally released by Paramount Pictures on December 5, 1947.As Santa delivers presents to Audrey and some other children, they slip into his sleigh to repay him by cleaning up his house, often with a clumsy Dutch boy's antics.This animated short is cute. Keep in mind there was no such thing as politically correct when this was made. Some images "MIGHT BE" offensive to some.

"Santa's Surprise" is from Famous Studios--the cartoon factory owned by Paramount. Up until the early 1940s, it had been Fleischer Brothers, but the brothers were long gone by the time this cute cartoon was made.It begins with Santa making Christmas deliveries--and several kids from around the world (including Little Audrey in her first cartoon) sneaking onto his sleigh. No, they are not terrorists but nice kids who want to do something nice for him when he returns home. So, the kids clean up Santa's place and leave his a Christmas tree with a present just for him.While this cartoon is pretty cute (especially the very end), I am pretty sure it's damned by good intentions that haven't kept up with changing times. Some of the kids (especially the black one) are real stereotypes and I am sure some folks would take offense, though the Dutch kid is by far the stupidest one and I assume the Dutch have thick enough skins to handle that. All in all, quite enjoyable but not up to the standards of the best cartoon shorts of the day--which were mostly coming from Looney Tunes and MGM.

Okay there are plenty of flaws in this cartoon or animated short. The cartoon is about a group of kids who want to thank Santa Claus for all he's done for them. Yes, the film is over 70 years old so it's outdated especially regarding stereotypes about the children. But I didn't pay attention much to that as part of the cartoon's message about thanking Santa Claus and gratitude. If you overlook the stereotypes and realize that the country was another time and place, you might appreciate the early animation in this short and how Christmas was part of American history in post-World War II America. I didn't see the stereotypes or the offensiveness. To me, it's a cartoon for children and audiences. While it might be seen as offensive now, I'm sure it wasn't offensive when it was released. Still, the message is about gratitude.