Yule Shoot Your Eye Out!

"Olive the Other Reindeer" (buy it), a made-for-TV special, first aired in 1999. It was based on the book (buy it, too) written by Vivian Walsh and illustrated by J. Otto Seibold. I could go on and on about how much I love this cartoon and why, but I don't want to get too carried away, so I'll try to keep it brief. First, the voice talent is excellent. Drew Barrymore is great as Olive, Joe Pantoliano is perfect as Martini the Penguin, and Dan Castellaneta crazed characterization of the the evil Postman fits him to a T. (There are many cool cameos, as well.) Also, while it's pretty much aimed at kids, as in Rocky & Bullwinkle and the best Looney Tunes cartoons, there are a lot of jokes that will go over the younger audience's heads and totally crack up the adults. Finally, it's just a really sweet story that is sentimental without getting too corny. I get more tingly Christmas Spirit-y moments watching this than pretty much any other Christmas show or movie.

While not a musical per se, there are some really great songs in the film. I couldn't pick just one, so here they all are. There isn't a soundtrack, so some of these have dialog or sound effects in them.

My Favorite Day (Olive)
The Postman Song (The Postman)
We're Not So Bad (Schnitzel the Reindeer (Michael Stipe))
Merry Christmas, After All (Olive, with Santa's Reindeer (Big Bad Voodoo Daddy))
My Favorite Day (reprise) (Olive)
or
all 5 songs in a zip file

Now go buy (or at least rent) the DVD!! And when you watch it, be sure to keep an eye on the background, too. There are a lot of jokes hidden back there that are easily missed (e.g. in the bus station there's a sign which reads "Ask about our special fares for drifters").