Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie
Promotional Poster
Directed by	William R. Kowalchuk
Produced by	William R. Kowalchuk
Written by	Original story: Robert May Screenplay: Michael Aschner Song: Johnny Marks
Starring	John Goodman Alan Arkin Eric Idle Whoopi Goldberg Debbie Reynolds Richard Simmons Bob Newhart Eric Pospisil Kathleen Barr
Music by	Al Kasha Michael Lloyd David Newman (uncredited)
Editing by	Tom Hok
Distributed by	Theatrical: Legacy Releasing
Release date(s)	October 16, 1998 (1998-10-16)
Running time	86 Minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$10 million

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie is a 1998 animated film about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, who first appeared in a 1939 story by Robert L. May. The film was the first theatrical feature from GoodTimes Entertainment, long known as a home video company. The film's animation was produced by Yowza! Animation, Wang Film Productions & Colorland Productions Inc. The character designer was Phil Mendez. In 2001, GoodTimes followed this up by licensing the Rankin-Bass characters for a CGI special titled Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys.

Plot

A baby reindeer named Rudolph is born with an abnormally red, shiny nose, and upon tripping into a pile of hay bales and sneezing shortly after his birth, his nose begins to glow. His parents start to worry that Rudolph will be poked fun at because of this, and their worries come true when the secret of their son's nose is accidentally revealed to Rudolph's three uncles, Cupid, Dasher, and Comet (along with the rest of the residents of the North Pole), and he starts getting taunted for this.

A year later, Rudolph is sent to school, where he falls in love with a gorgeous doe named Zoey but is ridiculed by everybody around him (with the exception of Zoey). When he can take being laughed at no longer, Rudolph runs from the school building and meets Santa Claus, who accepts him despite his nose and treats him with kindness. Shortly after, on Christmas Eve, after Santa has flown away for his annual travel around the world, Rudolph winds up running into Zoey, who wishes to befriend him. However, Arrow, Rudolph's enemy who has also set his cap for Zoey, disrupts their romantic moment beneath the mistletoe to lead Zoey away, hating to see her with Rudolph, albeit she still holds a strong fondness for Rudolph.

Years later, after Rudolph, Zoey, and Arrow have reached adolescence and are about to take part in the Reindeer Games, before the event, Zoey gives her pendant Rudolph to bring him good fortune, much to the chagrin of Arrow, who cheats at the games so he may be chosen to become a Flyer (one of the reindeer who pulls Santa Claus's sleigh). During the beginning competition, Arrow argues with Rudolph that Zoey really does not truly like him, antagonizing Rudolph into making his nose gleam and blind Arrow. Rudolph wins the race, but is disqualified because he was tricked into cheating using his nose by Arrow, thus making him ineligible for the position of Flyer. The disqualification of Rudolph infuriates both Blitzen (Rudolph's father) and Zoey, who confronts Arrow for cheating and ends their romantic relationship. Rudolph also overhears Blitzen arguing with the coach of the Reindeer Games and catches him shouting at the coach that his son's nose was "an accident," which hurts Rudolph so that he decides to run away into the Arctic wilderness, longing for Zoey's company.

Zoey is devastated upon learning that Rudolph ran away from home, so she decides to run off in search of him and even deliberately crosses the forbidden bridge of the film's main antagonist, Stormella, the wicked Ice Queen, who incarcerates her in an icy prison cell. Meanwhile, Rudolph has become acquainted with an Arctic fox named Slyly and a polar bear named Leonard, but one night he winds up meeting the Sprites of the Northern Lights, a group of singing, colorfully-garbed sprites who fly around the North Pole and admire Rudolph, who tell him that he must rescue the kidnapped Zoey. They instruct him how to properly use his nose, and soon Rudolph, Leonard, and Slyly journey to Stormella's castle to free Zoey.

Seeing as Zoey defied one of Stormella's orders by trespassing on her closed ice bridge, the antagonized Stormella fulfills her vow that she promised to perform if anybody ever crossed her bridge again: she unleashes a humongous blizzard upon the North Pole using her magical powers. Rudolph, Slyly, and Leonard make it to her castle, but soon find themselves locked up in ice prisons of their own for crossing Stormella's bridge. After the Ice Queen goes to sleep, Slyly sneaks into her bedroom to try and retrieve the key to his friends' prisons, managing to unlock them and free the group. However, the awakened Stormella learns about this and sends her pack of wolves after Rudolph and his friends, cornering them on a cliff. When she threatens to freeze Zoey, Rudolph is antagonized to such a degree that he uses his nose to blind Stormella, sending her toppling off of the cliff, hanging on for dear life. In spite of imprisoning his companions and causing him trouble, Rudolph saves Stormella's life by allowing her to grab on to his budding antlers and pulling her back up on the cliff, so she promises to reward him with a wish. Much to the Ice Queen's dismay, Rudolph wishes that Stormella would turn from evil to kindhearted, to which she reluctantly casts such a spell upon herself, but the snowstorm that she created is unstoppable. Boone and Doggle, two of Santa Claus's elves who were sent to search for Rudolph and Zoey, bring the entire group back to Santa's Village, though because of the blizzard Santa might not be able to carry out his flight this year. However, after he catches sight of Rudolph's glowing red nose, Santa asks the reindeer to lead his team of reindeer, to which he agrees. Rudolph guides Santa's sleigh through the storm, and it turns out to be a merry Christmas after all.

Cast

• Kathleen Barr as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Twinkle
  • Rudolph - Blitzen and Mitzi's son and the protagonist. Throughout most of his childhood Rudolph is bullied because of his red nose. But is later hailed a hero after he guides Santa's sleigh through Stormella's storm saving Christmas.
  • Twinkle - One of the sprites who help Rudolph control his red nose.
• Eric Pospisil as Young Rudolph
• Myriam Sirois as Zoey - Rudolph's love interest and one of the only reindeer who does not make a fool of Rudolph's red nose. She is the deuteragonist of the film.
• Vanessa Morley as Young Zoey
• John Goodman as Santa Claus - A Christmas icon who delivers gifts to the children of the world on Christmas Eve.
• Whoopi Goldberg as Stormella - The main antagonist. She is a cold hearted ice queen who through the film plans to bury Santa's village in snow ending Santa's flight forever. but Rudolph makes her turn nice at the end of the film.
• Debbie Reynolds as Mitzi, Mrs Claus and Mrs Prancer
  • Mitzi - Blitzen's wife and Rudolph's mother.
  • Mrs Claus - Santa Claus's wife.
  • Mrs Prancer - Prancer's wife
• Bob Newhart as Leonard - A polar bear who befriends Rudolph after he runs away. He serves as the secondary tritagonist.
• Eric Idle as Slyly - An albino artic fox who befriends Rudolph after he runs away. He serves as the primary tritagonist.
• Gary Chalk as Blitzen - One of Santa's reindeer, Rudolph's father, Mitzi's husband.
• Richard Simmons as Boone - One of Santa's elves, Doggle's best friend.
• Alec Willows as Doggle and Prancer
  • Doggle - One of Santa's elves he rides rudolph during the reindeer games, Boone's best friend.
  • Prancer - one of Santa's reindeer.
• Lee Tockar as Ridley, Vixen and Milo
  • Ridley - A penguin who serves Stormella.
  • Vixen - One of Santa's reindeer.
  • Milo - One of Santa's elves.
• Matt Hill as Arrow and Donner
  • Arrow - Cupid's son. He is a rival and bully to Rudolph as they both are in love with Zoey.
  • Donner - One of Santa's reindeer.
• Christopher Gray as Young Arrow
• Elizabeth Carol Savenkoff as Aurora, one of the sprites who help Rudolph control his red nose.
• Cathy Weseluck as Sparkle, one of the sprites who help Rudolph control his red nose.
• Paul Dobson as Dasher - One of Santa's reindeer.
• Terry Klassen as Dancer - One of Santa's reindeer.
• Colin Murdock as Comet - One of Santa's reindeer.
• David Kaye as Cupid - One of Santa's reindeer, Arrow's father.

External links

• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie at the Internet Movie Database
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie at Rotten Tomatoes