The 1989 movie “Prancer” has a cute premise. One of Santa’s reindeer is separated from the herd and becomes injured, to wander around in the woods near the home of one little girl who still believes in Santa. She takes him in, nurses him back to health, and saves her family in the process. Sounds fun, doesn’t it? Well, it would have been, if it had been done differently.
Sam Elliot stars as John Riggs, a widowed apple farmer on the brink of losing his farm. He has two children, Steve and Jessica (Rebecca Harrell) who miss their mother terribly. Jessica has clung to the tradition of Santa Claus as her means of coping with her mother’s death, and when she finds the injured reindeer, is ready, willing, and able to be as disobedient as she possibly can be in order to save the deer’s life. Her father, meanwhile, has decided to send her to live with her aunt, with no regard for the child’s feelings, and doesn’t seem to care that he’s breaking his daughter’s heart. Steve is the favored child – as the oldest and also as a boy, he has value on the farm, but Jessica has none, and therefore must be sent away.
No one in this film listens to each other, and they don’t even try to see things from the other’s point of view. The viewer is supposed to feel sorry for Jessica, but instead, I found myself wanting to smack her upside the head. All she can think about is what she wants, and her father’s words don’t even register in her cute little head.
In the end, the whole town comes together because Jessica nearly kills herself being disobedient (again) and she is rewarded for her disobedience with a surprise party and learning that she won’t have to live with her aunt after all.
I have issues with movies that give the impression that bad behavior will earn you rewards. I also have issues with movies that show parents softening toward their children after their children have done something incredibly stupid. I want to see more movies where the families talk out their problems and find ways to solve their differences without someone running off, being snotty, and putting themselves in mortal peril. Is that crazy of me?
Needless to say, this may have been a Christmas movie, but it didn’t make me feel the Christmas spirit in the slightest. Keep looking – this one isn’t a keeper.
(This film was rated G.)
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