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.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I've always been a fan of Rankin Bass, I grew up watching Rudolph, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town The Year Without a Santa Claus, Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas In July and also their underrated specials like Nestor the Long Eared Christmas Donkey, The First Christmas Snow, Pinocchio's Christmas and Little Drummer Boy and The Little Drummer Boy Book IIThe Life and Adventures Of Santa Claus is a very underrated and overlooked gem to the Rankin Bass fan base. Sadly this is rarely shown on TV, and it appears Freeform, aka ABC Family has giving this special the chopping block. When this did air on ABC family it was heavily edited and not watchableThe story begins with the great Ak with a council with immortals explaining why Santa deserves the mantel of immortality and not die. He begins his tale of the life of Santa Claus by explaining how he discovered Claus as a newborn infant abandoned at the edge of the enchanted forest. He first enlists a lioness named Shegria to nurse and care for the child but a fairy called Neclie hears about the baby and steals it from Shegria. Ak agrees to allow Necile to care for the baby and she calls him Claus. Claus grows up in the forest and as a young adult Ak takes him on a journey to show him what humans are like, after witnessing dark scenes like poverty, child abuse, war and hunger Claus decides to live in a village not far and help children. He becomes a toy maker and makes toys for the village children. His talent in bringing joy to children makes him want to travel the world and deliver toys to all children thus becoming Santa.Some evil villains called the Awguas cause trouble for Claus and steal his toys, but his immortal friends get the toys back by destroying the Awguas and their dragon. After an awesome battle with a dragon between good and evil, the immortals win and Claus gets to finish his journey on delivering toys,As Santa gets older he decides to deliver the presents on Christmas Eve, hence why Claus makes his trip once a year. As Ak finishes his story, the council agrees to bestow the mantel of immortality for Claus. Claus gets to be immortal and becomes Santa Claus who continues to deliver gifts to this day.This special again Is very much a part of my childhood and I love it, It's a lot different than the book such as a character called Tingler but it's a nice story about Santa Claus. The songs are nice and my favorite is A Child, We Wanna Wake Up to a Big Surprise is nice too. It's dark, but it's geared more toward older kids and adults. But if you want to watch something different I recommend this. Great special10/10 stars

i gave this movie a 1 out of 10 because there was no option for a zero. the original print and all copies of this movie should burned.my first impression was "only a D&D fan could enjoy this." but D&D fans, however strange to the rest of us, have wonderful imaginations, which the creators of this movie do not. cheesy creatures with goofy, meaningless names do not make a story.Christmas stories fall into two categories: secular and religious. this movie defines a whole new category: crap.please don't waste your time on this movie. you will never get the hour back.

This was one of my favorite Rankin-Bass productions. This particular telling of the Santa story is based on L. Frank Baum book of the same title: "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus." The immortals are gathered by the Great Ak to decide whether or not the mortal Santa deserves the honor of becoming immortal (something the immortals can only grant once). The story is narrated by Ak and recounts how he found the young babe and watched over him as he was raised by some of the nymphs and animals that fell under Ak's jurisdiction.As with any Rankin-Bass stop animation production the creature concepts can be wildly imaginative (and scary... the Nooks tend creep me out, but I wouldn't mind a plush version of one) and be sure that there are numerous musical outbursts as the story progresses.This Baum story has also recently received an animated retelling. I am saddened that this particular version does not receive as much airing time, but I am very grateful that we always recorded Christmas specials when I was younger.I recommend this to anyone who enjoys Rankin-Bass holidays escapism and has an imagination that enjoys being stimulated.

I saw this when I was very young and it scared me very much especially King Aqwa, his horns and just the way he looked freaked me out. Two years ago I saw it again and I found it quite interesting but very dark. It's most certainly not the typical special. Rankin/Bass did a great job and they always have very special characters in all of their specials. The musical score is pretty good and there's a moral in this very dark tale of Santa Claus. The good guys even look kinda creepy but cool. Like Peter Nook and those other immortals that the Great AK talk to during their story of Santa Claus. It's a bad shame that this special does not air regularly like most of the other Rankin Bass specials. If you like fantasy, you'll like this great one.