SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Kodie Bird True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Sammy-Jo Cervantes There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . the Axis Powers of World War Two as they misjudged America as nearly-rotten fruit ripe for the plucking. THE CAPTAIN'S CHR!STMAS uses the hackneyed MGM cartoon device of the main character ("Pegleg John Silver" here, NOT "The Captain," as the title would lead you to suspect!) falling asleep to have a wild dream mid-cartoon. (If these animated folks had had any brains, they'd dream about being employed at ANOTHER movie studio besides MGM!) Problem is, Pegleg John NEVER wakes from his nightmare about shooting up the kids' Christmas while dressed in a Santa Suit. (Yes, there WAS a live-action feature remake of this animated short last holiday season titled KRAMPUS.) More perversely, Pegleg John rides over all the Captain's kids' new toys on their newly assembled tricycle, breaking the whole lot of them--trike and all! Most disturbingly, John-as-a-Kid (with a miniature Pegleg and all!) shows up to persuade John to go to a nearby village totally populated by Santas to beg for replacement toys! John's pirate crew may or may not crash the Pearly Gates during this foray, but who really cares?

utgard14 I'm admittedly not overly familiar with "The Captain and the Kids" series. So perhaps this cartoon is a poor place to jump on. Apparently The Captain is dressed up as Santa to deliver presents to the kids. Some British thief (he says blimey and bloomin' a lot) with three weird little guys who hang around him jumps the Captain and puts on his Santa suit. Then he goes into the house and proceeds to terrorize the children destroying everything and ruining their Christmas. So basically what we have here is a Christmas cartoon about a home invasion. Creepy.The animation is OK but the guy's peg leg switches legs constantly. The humor that I see such praise for here was missing for me. Judging by other reviews this is I guess one of the better "Captain & the Kids" shorts. That doesn't make me want to seek out the others. Undoubtedly fans of the series will enjoy it much more.

tavm Having just discovered this Christmas cartoon starring The Captain and the Kids on YouTube, I have to say-the plotting is all over the place what with peg-leg John stealing The Captain's disguise as Santa Claus, breaking into Mama and her boys'-Hans and Franz-house not to mention their toys and then vowing to make amends because of a crisis of conscience and not getting arrested for his previous doings? Well, it is Christmas and forgiveness is ample here. Having said all that, there are some pretty funny gags here and I loved seeing John and his co-horts sing with their tongues moving up and down in rhythm and with Friz Freleng as director-having temporarily left Leon Schlesinger for M-G-M-you know you're getting some good musical animation. So with all that, I'll just be generous and recommend The Captain's Christmas.

Robert Reynolds This is just about the only genuinely funny Captain and the Kids cartoon they made. A few were reasonably good, if not terribly memorable. But this one deserves to be seen and remembered. I suspect that the fact that, despite the title, The Captain makes but a cameo appearance has something to do with its success. The focus here is on the pirate John, a much more interesting character. John's attempts to make amends for his thoughtless actions are the bulk of the cartoon. The caroling scene is beautiful!!! Suffice it to say that I've never quite heard "Hang Up the Holly in the Window" in the same way before and it will always remind me of this cartoon whenever I hear it in the future! Painful, but effective! Well worth tracking down. Most recommended.