What makes it different from others?

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Nestor the Long Eared Christmas Donkey is a sweet, yet sad Christmas Special.The story starts with our narrator Santa's donkey who explains his ancestor Nestor, Nestor was a donkey born with very long ears. The other animals on the farm where he lived were mean and made fun of him. Olaf the donkey owner was also cruel and called him insulting names. The only person who was kind to Nestor was his mother. One night Roman soldiers come to the farm and want some young donkeys. Olaf shows them all the young donkeys and they take them. they take Nestor but he puts up a struggle causing his long ears to be shown. The angry soldiers take the young donkeys for free and leave Olaf furious that he lost a sale. Olaf tosses Nestor out into a blizzard and his mother has enough and breaks out of her pen to rescue her son. Homeless and alone Nestor and his mother find a drift bank and his mother digs a hole so she can cover Nestor up with herself to keep him warm. Tragically Nestor's mother dies in the blizzard sacrificing her own self for her young son. Nestor wanders the world alone until he meets a cherub called Tilly who tells Nestor he must travel to Bethlehem.After a journey Tilly takes Nestor to a donkey dealer and Nestor spends the next months being ridiculed and abused by the other animals. One night Mary and Joesph arrive and want to purchase Nestor because they've fallen with his gentle eyes. The dealer gives Nestor for free. Mary Joseph and Nestor travel thru the desert and get caught in a sand storm, but Nestor uses his ears to hear the voices of angels and gets the two to Bethlehem where in a manger Jesus is born. Nestor returns to his farm where the animals and Olaf greet him with loving embrace.This special is sad because Nestor's mother obviously dies and also there is a little abuse among the animals but it is forgiven in the end. I recommend this special for kids and nostalgia adults. It also teaches how that you have a purpose and God created you for that special purpose

I grew up with the Rankin and Bass Christmas specials, but I never saw or even heard of Nestor until it came as part of a DVD collection of classic Christmas programs. I was looking forward to it because so few Christmas specials actually deal with the story of the Nativity. Also, the predicament of misfits and outsiders is like a running theme in many of the Rankin and Bass classics, like Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. I was an abused and bullied child, and even though it was many years ago now, I remember that watching these programs gave me hope and they still never fail to bring a tear to my eyes.The first part of Nestor is well done and deeply moving, and I didn't even mind the death of Nestor's mother because I knew that since this was a Rankin and Bass program, all of Nestor's sufferings would be redeemed in the end. He would discover the meaning and value of his long ears, and he would escape his social isolation with the help of friends who love and understand him.Except that he never does. Find friends, that is. While Nestor's long, sensitive ears make it possible for him to help Mary and Joseph get to Bethlehem, he never makes a single real friend in the entire program. Apart from his mother, the only characters with whom Nestor bonds are an angel, whose sole purpose is to make sure he gets to Bethlehem, and Mary and Joseph, whom for some inexplicable reason he leaves after the birth of Jesus in order to return to the stable where he was abused and mistreated. Even at the Nativity, which should have been his moment of triumph, instead of being part of the scene, surrounded and befriended by the other animals, we are shown Nestor apart on a hillside, watching the Wise Men present their gifts, ALONE. For me, that was almost as heartbreaking as the death of Nestor's mother.It is bizarre to me. Rankin and Bass virtually created the formula that is the basis for Nestor the Long Eared Donkey. In their other programs, they show a keen sensitivity to the needs and dreams of abused children, high on the list of which is the need for friendship and community. I am glad I never saw this program as a child, because it would have haunted me for weeks. The only possible explanation I can think of is that time constraints made it impossible for them to develop the story properly.Nestor is a wonderful character and his story is deeply moving, but all I can do is fantasize that he at some point found the love and the friendship that we don't see him get here. I almost hope that someone will re-make this story, and this time do it properly. Sweet little Nestor deserves better.

Tiny ostracized donkey Nestor has trouble fitting in because of his abnormally large ears. One fateful day Nestor gets thrown out into a raging blizzard, loses his mother, and hence has to fend for himself. Nestor embarks on a journey to Bethlehem. He's guided along the way by his helpful guardian cherub Tilly (given an endearingly hoarse voice by Brenda Vaccaro). This lovely, moving and uplifting fable about discovering your self-worth and achieving your destiny benefits greatly from its engagingly warm and simple story that has nice elements of the Disney classics "Bambi" and "Dumbo," a pleasant and positive tone, cool stop-motion animation, and a marvelous array of catchy and folksy songs (the titular number is especially charming and tuneful). Country singer/songwriter Roger Miller makes for a wonderfully amiable narrator and sings the aforementioned songs with his trademark infectiously hearty aplomb. Legendary voice actor supreme Paul Frees lends his gloriously mellifluous golden throat as both Nestor's cruel owner Olaf and a sleazy donkey dealer. Granted, this particular yuletide TV special starts out pretty sad and depressing, but eventually culminates in a truly touching happy ending. A sweet, sparkling little gem of a show.

Does anyone still submit his children to this? I spent 22 of the most agonizing minutes of my life watching this feel-bad puppetoon made for T.V. movie. In this charmer, Nestor is mercilessly ridiculed by everyone because of his long ears, is nearly kidnapped by Roman soldiers who are stealing donkeys for use by the Empire and runs away with the help of his mom, only to watch her freeze to death during a snowstorm. Merry freakin' Christmas. Only watch this if you think that giving the Virgin Mary a ride into Bethlehem is gift enough to make up for a miserable, wretched existence. Cynic that I am, I didn't buy it.Grade: C-