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 300 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA.This film had great source material! However the makers of this film add and subtract the wrong things. What they get right is the tone. What they do wrong is everything else. They add songs (not a bad idea) however these songs are terrible.They also dumb down the story because since this is made for small children they break the rule about children's show. The makers of this film think children are too stupid to get the subtext and they dumb down the story and dialog. Based on the popular book by L. Frank Baum, the beloved author of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," comes "The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus". The story starts off many centuries ago, long before toys had even been invented, a baby abandoned at the edge of an enchanted forest was adopted and raised by a beautiful wood nymph, thus beginning the life story of Santa Claus. From his truly magical childhood through the discovery of his life's work of making children happy, discover the origin of every tradition surrounding Santa Claus!I hope one day someone with more talent will adapt the book into a full length feature film. If done correctly it would become a classic. This however is barely worth watching.

I have not seen the Rankin' Bass version, but I will definitely check it out as I am such a big fans of their Christmas specials. What's for sure though is that I love The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus. The animation is vibrant and looks really clean and beautifully coloured, while the music is enough to warm anybody's heart with its heartfelt simplicity. The writing is sweet, touching and sincere, and the story is heartwarming, gives you the feeling of Christmas and has a message that will inspire any child without doing it in a didactic way. The characters are likable and engaging, with cute animals and fairy characters and Santa is so kind and jovial that it is easy to fall in love with him. The voice acting is excellent, with Robby Benson brilliant as Santa.Overall, this is a really beautiful Christmas movie. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Of all the Christmas specials we watch (most every Rankin/Bass stop motion with Santa ever made) this is one of our very favorites. Let me note that this is the animated version, not the stop motion one - it's the only of Rankin/Bass's productions I've ever taken a pass on.The animation is beautiful, the script is at once touching and terrifying and lovely. Hal Holbrook voices both The Great Auk and the Narrator - they couldn't have found a better choice. Robbie Benson outdoes himself as "Young Santa" and Jim Cummings as "Older Santa" - the two of them make a seamless performance of Santa and give a wonderful fully- developed character.*Spoilers* This story is much more ancient than most we see - This Santa was a foundling that a Wood Nymph breaks all her kind's laws to raise in the Forest of Berzee. This Santa, after he grows up, wears the Christmas Wreath we've seen in historic engravings - The Great Auk is introduced to us as "The Master Woodsman" ruling over Faeries, Nooks & Rills (& wood nymphs) in a very woodland interpretation of the Santa Claus story. Santa delivers toys as gifts to children many times a year on a regular basis - until the Augua start attacking Nicholas of Berzee (his name during his mortal lifetime) and endanger the children. Then he negotiates with the Ril who is responsible for all the deer for one night a year - and when they ask which night, Auk suggests there is one night the humans celebrate each year when their hearts are a little more full and a little more caring - that should be the right night. They agree and he begins delivering toys one night a year with the 8 reindeer he's able to borrow from Wil (the deer keeper). In the Great Battle the Augua are joined by Dragons & Giants - they're defeated by the great magic of the immortals. The rest is the wonderful story of his travels as what we think of as Santa and Christmas presents and even touches on how he gets in even without a chimney! In the end, Nicholas is, after all mortal. And when he must finally pass, Auk petitions for immortality for him. The story ends well - but you should watch to see the particulars.This Santa is wonderful - he's constantly amazed at the world around him - all is new and lovely and surprising and wondrous. This story by Frank L. Baum, is lovingly told and animated and given to us in voice by Hal Holbrook.Of all the Christmas Specials we watch, this is one of only 2 my teenager still asks for - the other is Call Me Claus (Whoopie Goldberg & Nigel Hawthorne). That's pretty high praise - and very well deserved!

This version of The Life and adventures of Santa Claus is a pale, saccharine sweet sham when compared to the supurbly done stop motion animation of the 1985 version of this same story done by Rankin / Bass. This felt cheesy and half-hearted whereas the stop motion animated one has the distinct feel of a classic and was more true to the heart and feel of the old story by L. Frank Baum.The story is good but it feels dumbed down compared to the stop motion version. A seldom known fact, Baum connected this story to his loved The Wizard of Oz by saying the immortal faeries of this story are the ones who enchanted the land of Oz to begin with.