A good adaptation of a great Christmas special. I watched the animated show over and over as a kid, and now I rewatch it with my family pretty much every year.

Diane Wright Landolf has pared the origin story of Santa Claus down to its essential core, trimming out the narrator and the songs but keeping his turn as an outlaw practicing civil disobedience against an autocratic mayor. Darrell Baker art captures the likenesses of the stop-animation figures well, especially sexy Miss Jessica, one of my many lifelong animated crushes.

This adaptation will never replace the original, but it does whet my appetite for watching it again this year.

FOR REFERENCE:

Adaptation of the 1970 animated television special from Rankin/Bass Productions written by Romeo Muller and directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass. The movie was inspired by the 1934 song, "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town," written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie. ( )