Rankin-Bass put all the best and moderate of their filmology, dropped it into a Waring blender, and poured out this long, boring, convoluted, and contrived slop. AVOID!!!
Where is the true Christmas spirit in this movie? Seeing my favourite Christmas characters threatened like this isn't my idea of a good movie. Rankin-Bass almost always manages to create a memorable and wonderful Christmas special each time, but this is one of the very few examples why they aren't perfect. The musical numbers aren't amazing, and certainly not great. It would be a very saddening movie for young children, and it's best to just skip this one.