Let's Watch This: "Frosty's Winter Wonderland" (1976)

NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.

I guess somebody at Rankin-Bass really liked the idea of doing sequels to their most iconic TV specials in 1976, because they made TWO OF THEM that year. And you thought Rudolph's Shiny New Year was the only one that year, didn't you? No, there is another.

Frosty's Winter Wonderland is the first of three sequels that have been made to Frosty the Snowman. I was originally going to do a review of Frosty Returns this year, but I decided it'd make more sense to review the Frosty sequels in order. Just like the first special, Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr. served as the directors and Romeo Miller wrote the script. They even got Jackie Vernon back as the voice of Frosty.

The special first premiered on ABC in December 1976. Since then, it's reaired on various networks over the years, but I've never actually watched the whole thing. I guess I just wasn't super-eager to watch a special where plot is "Frosty gets a wife", plus it was years before I could actually rewatch Frosty the Snowman without turning it off before the greenhouse scene.

For whatever reason, this special seems to have kind of a negative reception online. Most of the reviews I've found of it are negative. Let's see which side of the fence I'll fall on. This is Frosty's Winter Wonderland.

The special starts off with some kids building a snowman - a snowman who is clearly NOT Frosty, as evidenced by the fact that he's wearing a straw hat as opposed to a top hat, his nose is a carrot instead of a button, and the lack of a corncob pipe. The kids acknowledge that this snowman isn't gonna spring to life, since only Frosty can do that. Well, and Olaf. And fellow Rankin-Bass character Sam the Snowman. And Snowden (he's a toy, yeah, but he's a toy SNOWMAN, so he counts).

This snowman does have one thing that Frosty doesn't, however - eyes that stare directly
into your soul.

Our narrator, Andy Griffith, shows up and assures the kids that Frosty will return. "You all remember that day Frosty left," he says. Despite the special's wanting us to believe that they are, these are clearly not the same kids from the original special. This is what the kids from the first special looked like:

None of the kids in this special look anything like that. Particularly noticeable is that Karen, the only one of those kids to get a name, is nowhere to be found here. The rabbit doesn't show up in this one either.

As for Frosty himself, he's still hanging out up at the North Pole, now wearing a nice scarf but otherwise looking more or less the same as he did in the first special. Rankin-Bass knew better than to mess with the design of their second most iconic character.

I think his head is a bit wider now, too.

A gust of wind blows a newspaper into Frosty's face, and he sees an article about how the first snow of the season has arrived in... whatever the name of the town from the original special is. Since it's nice and cold there, Frosty can head back without worrying about melting. But first, he heads back to his house, which seems to be mostly made out of ice... Elsa would probably approve...

He writes the kids a letter saying that he's on his way. Huh, he knows how to write now? In the first special he couldn't even count to ten. Frosty's getting smarter. Good for him.

The kids are all very excited to find out that Frosty's coming back, and Andy Griffith tells us that he's got a very special surprise waiting for him when he gets there. "You've heard the old familiar tale, how Frosty came to life..." he says. "But do you know the story... of how Frosty... took a wife?"

"You're probably wondering where Karen and that rabbit from the first special are.
I have no idea. I'm just the narrator here..."

Frosty arrives back in whatever the name of this town is off-camera (no heartwarming reunion scene? Drat) and soon he and the kids are having a lot of fun. But somebody does not approve of Frosty's presence: Jack Frost. A very different Jack Frost than the one featured in the Rankin-Bass special of the same name. This Jack Frost, voiced by Paul Frees, is mad that Frosty is more popular than he is. "Why don't the children love ME? I'M the one who makes winter wonderful!" he complains. 

Just wait until 2012, Jack - after Rise of the Guardians is released, you'll be more popular than ever. Sure, everybody loves Frosty, but does he have a million pieces of fanart on Tumblr? Or hundreds of fanfictions where he's paired up with the female lead from another animated movie? I don't think so.

Maybe he's just mad that his own Rankin-Bass Christmas special isn't as iconic as Frosty's.
Then again, THIS special was made before THAT one, so...

Jack introduces himself to Frosty and the kids, but despite his best efforts, the kids dub him a "big braggart" and say that Frosty's a lot more fun. Wow, way to be blunt, kids. Then Jack gets an idea - the hat is what brings Frosty to life, isn't it? If he eliminates the hat, he eliminates Frosty. Then everybody will love HIM. Either that, or he'll be known as "the guy who killed Frosty" and the kids will hate him even more. Here's a suggestion, Jack Frost - you want to be popular? Convince the folks at Wendy's to name a popular item on their menu after you, it worked wonders for Frosty.

That night, Frosty and the kids ride in a sleigh pulled by two horses to the local ice skating rink. Frosty makes a figure nine as opposed to a figure eight (he still can't count. He can write, but he still can't count). Jack attempts to steal the hat, but winds up with the hat from one of the horses instead. Good thing the horse just so happened to be wearing a top hat as well. Anything to get Jack Frost out of their hair (at least for the kids, since Frosty doesn't have hair).

Just a suggestion, Mr. Frost - maybe you'd be more popular if you didn't go around nipping
at peoples' noses. Not everybody likes having their schnozz bitten.

The next day, the kids notice something different about Frosty - and no, it's not that he's wearing a scarf now. He admits that every night, when the kids go home, he gets lonely. One of the kids suggests that he get himself a wife, or at least a girlfriend. Problem is, there aren't a lot of sentient snowwomen wandering around, nor are there any internet dating sights for snowpeople. But since Frosty was built by the kids... or at least, by OTHER kids who aren't in this special for whatever reason... then what's stopping the kids from just building the wife too?

So the next morning, the kids start building Frosty's wife, designed to Frosty's specifications. He wants her "kind of round and plump". Much like Moto Moto, he likes 'em big, he likes 'em chunky.

Isn't it kind of funny that Frosty has actual arms and legs made of snow? When most people
make snowmen, don't they usually give them sticks for arms and no legs at all? Clearly the kids
in these Rankin-Bass specials are much more skilled at this snowman-making thing than we are...

For her eyes, they use two blue beads that sparkle like sapphires. Her nose is a thimble, her mouth is a string of pink yarn. They even give her hair, via an old dust mop, and clothing in the form of an apron. I hope that doesn't make Frosty self-consious about being bald and naked.

Now they just need to give her a name. The kids suggest names like "Cleopatra", "Ermentrude", and "Minnehaha". Even the horses offer a suggestion, but nobody else agrees that "NEEEEEEEEEEEIGH" would be a good name for a snowwoman. One kid suggests "Corn Flakes". Does that qualify as product placement?

"What? People are named after cereal all the time. Just ask my Uncle Cocoa Puffs..."

Frosty eventually suggests "Crystal", and everyone agrees that it's a great name. There's just one small problem - how are they going to bring her to life? Magic hats are pretty rare. "Well, it was a nice idea anyway..." Frosty laments.

And to make matters worse, Jack Frost is realizing that the hat he stole isn't Frosty's. "Somebody's been horsing around with Jack Frost!" he declares, and he thinks it's all Frosty's fault for some reason.

There's something in your eye, Mr. Frost. In fact, it's in your other eye too.

"I'll show them, though... that nobody makes a fool of Jack Frost!" Jack snarls, his eyes turning red - quick, somebody get him some Clear Eyes. For dry, red eyes, Clear Eyes is AWESOME.

Hello, nightmare fuel.

Frosty stands out there in front of Crystal all night, eventually picking up a lovely bouquet of "frost flowers" which he'd made from the snow and placing it in her hands. And believe it or not, somehow, those flowers bring Crystal (voiced by Shelley Winters) to life. It's a Rankin-Bass special, just go with it.

"I feel like we were made for each other!"

"I WAS made for you!"

"I know! That's why I feel like it!"

Frosty and Crystal run around all happy and in love, unaware of the presence of Jack Frost, who uses a winter wind to knock the hat off of Frosty's head and swipe it. Now Frosty is inanimate. Where's Santa Claus when you need him?

But Crystal declares that removing the hat isn't enough to remove Frosty. "You have a wife - except for the formalities, that is - to help you now," she points out before making a snow flower to place on Frosty's "button hole" and planting a kiss on his cheek. And that does the trick! Frosty comes back to life!

...say, does this mean that magician guy from the first special can have his hat back now?

Speaking of the magician, at least Jack Frost didn't do what he did and lock Frosty in a greenhouse.

"I've been outfrosted again!" Jack moans. Sorry, Frost, but you're no match for THE POWER OF LOVE. The kids run outside to put on the wedding, somehow even managing to find Parson Brown (Dennis Day) to marry them. Fun fact: there is no actual person named Parson Brown, he's just a character invented for the "Winter Wonderland" song. For more information, please watch this hilarious video I found on YouTube.

I also just now realized that Parson Brown is here because the name of the special is "Frosty's
WINTER WONDERLAND". I feel stupid for not realizing that earlier...

Parson Brown says that he's legally only allowed to marry people, not snowpersons, so he suggests that they build a snowparson so HE can do the job. So they build a snowparson and place a copy of the Good Book in his hand to bring him to life. I wonder how else this "certain object brings a snowperson to life" deal works. If someone were to, say, build a snowman that looks like Jack Nicholson and put an Academy Award in its hand, would we then have a snow Jack Nicholson?

Jack shows up again and tries to stop the wedding with another powerful wind. Instead of just getting a restraining order against the guy, Frosty and Crystal get the idea to make Jack Frost their best man. And Jack's heart grows three sizes that night.

So the wedding gets started, and an offscreen chorus sings "Winter Wonderland". I was gonna make a joke about how Frosty and Crystal should avoid the "conspiring by the fire" part since, y'know, they'd melt, but the animators thought ahead for that:

Technically, they're conspiring by the ice crystals, but who cares?

We even get a glimpse of Frosty and Crystal's eventual offspring! No, I don't know how snowpeople reproduce. My guess is that they build the kids out of snow and then bring them to life somehow.

And indeed, Rankin-Bass' 1979 release Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (I'll review that one at some point too) showed that Frosty and Crystal do have two kids, Millie and Chilly. The third one seen here isn't in it, though. Neither is the snowdog.

I also don't know why the snowkids don't have noses. What, could they just not find three buttons?

"I now pronounce you, snowman and wife!" the snowparson (also Dennis Day) says, which is Frosty and Crystal's cue to suck face. And so Frosty and Crystal live happily ever after. Only downside is, when April rears its ugly face, the temperature starts to rise. But Jack Frost assures them that winter never has to end. "With me around, this fun can go on forever!" he announces. And it does. So what if this inconveniences the spring flowers, and all those hibernating animals, and all the sports teams that want to start spring training?

Parson Brown points out to them that winter can't go on forever, which means that it's time for Frosty and Crystal to head back to the North Pole until next winter. By the way, in case you're like me and you were wondering where the heck Karen is, she finally makes a brief cameo:

Or maybe somebody just stole her clothes. I don't remember Karen being that tall...

But before they go, they head through town and run into that traffic cop (Paul Frees once again) from the first special. He's totally cool (no pun intended) with the fact that there's a talking snowman now, but TWO of them? He's so surprised that he swallows his whistle again!

"And they're eventually going to have KIDS?! How is THAT possible?!"

Frosty, Crystal, and Jack Frost hop aboard a train to the North Pole, and spring arrives. "May all your winters be wonderful!" Andy Griffith tells us. "And frosty, too!" Frosty and Crystal add. The end.

What's the Verdict?

While Frosty's Winter Wonderland obviously isn't as good as the first special, it's a nice little follow-up. The animation isn't quite as smooth and slick-looking as the first, and I can't help but be a little annoyed at the lack of Karen (y'know, the first special's secondary lead character?) and the rabbit. Even having the magician pop in again, if just for a cameo, would've been nice. But Frosty's natural charm as a character does a lot of heavy lifting, and Crystal proves to be a good match for him despite not showing up until halfway through. Of the two Rankin-Bass 1976 sequels, I think I'd give the edge to Rudolph's Shiny New Year just because of how much more "out there" it is. This would've benefitted from the presence of a caveman or a whale with a clock in its tail or something.

I give Frosty's Winter Wonderland four snowballs out of five. AMC is going to air it twice this month (first on the 21st, then on Christmas Eve), so be sure to set your DVRs.

Further reading:
- The Anime Madhouse's review of the first special
- Nothing But Cartoons' review of the first special
- Up on the Shelf Reviews' review of the first special

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