The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Though not necessarily a Christmas movie per se, this 1979 animated adaptation of C.S. Lewis' 1950 novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is inextricably linked to the holiday in my mind, both in its overt religious themes and its general snow covered wintry ambience.  Along with Rankin/Bass' version of The Hobbit, this made for TV movie was one of the gateway drugs into the world of fantasy literature for me, since I saw the cartoon versions first and then read the books they were based on later.  Thanks television!

Compared to the recent 2005 live action feature film or even the 1988 BBC miniseries, this version is a relatively low budget affair directed by Bill Melendez, director of the beloved trilogy of Peanuts holiday specials A Charlie Brown Christmas, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and the slightly lesser A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  Though it lacks the big budget sheen and special effects set pieces of the 2005 film, this is an extemely faithful adaptation of the novel with a narrative that moves quickly but is well paced and about 99% free of any extraneous padding, which is not something I would say for the 2005 live action film (or Peter Jackson's bloated Hobbit trilogy).  Obviously not as polished as a Disney production, the animation is decent for a made for TV movie, though the character design could be considered a bit wonky, especially for the four Pevensie children and their Brady kids fashions; there are a few scenes where these kids just look downright ugly.  Susan fares the worst, usually looking like some type of greasy haired encephalitic inbred; maybe she was just going through an awkward phase since once the kids are portrayed as adults they lose most of the ugliness in their original lumpy, pasty faced designs.

That caveat aside, this adaptation still manages to retain a bit of the "veddy British" cozy tea time atmosphere of the original story, a feeling of homely magic that I personally felt was more or less lost in the 2005 film in favor of Lord of the Rings-lite style battles and CGI spectacle.  And though I can only really remember a Minotaur or two in the White Witch's army of monsters and some Centaurs on Aslan's side in the live action film, this cartoon version features a whole menagerie of weird and bizarre creatures in the two armies, including but not limited to: a unicorn, a flying horse, a couple of dryads, a werewolf, a trio of witches and a plethora of assorted ghouls and goblins.  Not a bad monster count for a kiddie cartoon!

Here's a short clip: