TV Special Review: Frosty Returns

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Jonathan Winters' narration

Cons: Preachy, poor songs, ignores key points about Frosty

The Bottom Line: 

Ignore this special

It's Frosty in name only

And not worth your time

Frosty Returns.  Why?

Growing up, I watched the original "Frosty the Snowman" and its true sequel, "Frosty's Winter Wonderland," every year.  By the time Frosty Returns arrived in 1992, I was in high school and didn't make the time to watch it.  In fact, I never had gotten around to watching it until this year when it was part of a set I received for free.  Now that I've seen it, I can skip it in the future.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the town of Beansboro.  In fact, the first snowfall of the year is happening, and that means the Winter Carnival is right around the corner.  This year, magician Holly (Elisabeth Moss) is determined to win the talent show.  She's a bit of an anti-social little girl, but she does have one friend in Charles (Michael Patrick Carter).

But she makes another when she finds Frosty (John Goodman) on the outskirts of town.  They meet just before Mr. Twitchell (Brian Doyle-Murray) arrives on the scene.  Mr. Twitchell has just invented Summer Wheeze, a spray can that melts snow and makes it seem like summer.  Everyone gets on board, including the kids who go from loving snow to hating it in five minutes.  With Frosty now in dangerous territory, it's up to Holly to save the day.  Will she have the courage of her convictions?

What went right?  Jonathan Winters is the narrator, and adds some warmth and charm to the proceedings, which they badly needed.  A few moments are fun, and the overall messages of standing up for what is right as well as respecting the environment are fine.

What went wrong?  Where do I even begin.

To start with, Frosty no longer needs a magic hat.  Yes, he still has it most of the time, but he takes it off a couple of times and it doesn't affect him at all.  I'm sorry, that's like Superman not being affected by Kryptonite.

I recognized Bill Melendez in the opening credits.  Since he has worked on just about all the Peanuts shorts, I thought it would be a good thing.  His handy work is everywhere.  Many of the characters look like they belong in a Peanuts short.  And there is the boy names Charles.  But I found that more of a distraction, especially since the characters looked like such a hodgepodge of styles.  Teacher Miss Carbuncle looks too much like Maxine from the Hallmark cards, for example.

As I hinted above, I found the story pretty lame.  In the opening song, the kids are excited about the first snow of the season while the adults are complaining about the work.  It was fun, as a non-snow lover, I could see the point.  But within just a few minutes, all the kids are hating snow just as much if not more than parents.  I know they only had 30 minutes, but that was just way too fast to be believable.

After that opening number, the songs went downhill and are completely forgettable.

Then there's the moral.  I think we need to protect the environment, and as much as I love summer and wish we had it year round, know we need all four seasons for a healthy Earth.  (And yes, we do have four seasons in Southern California.)  But I don't turn on a Christmas special to be preached at.  Honestly, I don't like any story that preaches to me, but here it was so obviously the only point of the piece that I was turned off by it.

Oh yeah, and if this is a Christmas special, why is Christmas only mentioned once?

This special is almost always coupled with the original Frosty on TV and DVD, leaving the original, better sequel forgotten.  That's a shame because there is very little reason to ever watch Frosty Returns.