TV Show Info
TV Show Name: Frosty Returns
Studio: Broadway Video
Genre(s): Cartoon/Seasonal
Release Date(s): December 1, 1992
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
I’m here to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and I’m all out of bubble gum!!!
Aspiring, young magician Holly finds her top hat has brought a snowman named Frosty to life. Frosty inspires Holly to keep dreaming, but Frosty and Holly finds Frosty’s life is in danger when a new product called Summer Wheeze threatens to destroy the cold of Beansboro. Beansboro is getting warmer and Beansboro is about to discover how important winter is.
Directed by Evert Brown and Bill Melendez, Frosty Returns is a musical family holiday special. The film follows Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July from 1979, but the special was not produced by Rankin/Bass. The special originally aired on CBS on December 1, 1992.
I’m a bad, bad man in a bad, bad special
Frosty the Snowman was always one of my least favorite holiday “standard”. I didn’t like that it wasn’t claymation like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and it didn’t have the heart of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Frosty Returns makes Frosty the Snowman seem like Citizen Kane in comparison.
It doesn’t particularly bother me but this is a “holiday” special as opposed to a Christmas special (no mention of the holiday). While more inclusive, this does disengage it from the other Christmas specials, but also gets rid of nostalgia that can be developed by tying it to the holiday…this however isn’t the main problem.
Well, looks like Frosty is dead….show over
The main problem is that the special is awful. The music is bad, the story is bad, and the animation is pretty poor. The only saving grace for this series is that they did get a strong cast. Frosty is voiced by John Goodman. A young Elisabeth Moss of Mad Men fame provides the voice of Holly. Jonathan Winters serves as the narrator and Brian Doyle-Murray plays the evil Mr. Twitchell. Andrea Martin plays the teacher Ms. Carbuncle and Jan Hooks plays Holly’s mother.
Frosty Returns is bad. It isn’t fun, it isn’t funny, and it has no spirit. The cartoon just feels like an attempt to capitalize on the Frosty name. Fortunately, this special doesn’t air that often. It is sometimes paired with Frosty the Snowman when it airs during the holiday, but it isn’t a regular. Frosty did return in The Legend of Frosty the Snowman in 2005.
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