Confound this movie! (my unbelievably long commentary)

I call it: "Truckloads full of Easter joy: a spoiler-rich and very lengthy feature commentary (or, cottontary)!"

Confound this movie! It's gonna have me going around shipping Jackie Frost/Irontail (Ironjack?) to random strangers. O.o I expected it to be lame. The opening sequence is cute; it can't touch the original's, but it is rather Noggin/Nick, Jr.-esque, so there's nothing BAD about it.

Seymour S. Sassafrass: This guy is cute and lovable, and his voice is great, but he's NOT THE SAME PERSON by any stretch of the imagination. O.o He's more of a goof. Trying to accept them as the same person is jarringly impossible. We must understand that this is another Seymour S. Sassafrass, perhaps a relative of Danny Kaye's.
The same thing happened when the CG sequel "Rudolph & the Island of Misfit Toys" was made--I didn't dislike that movie, but like most sequels to Rankin/Bass productions made in recent years, it falls far short of the original's magic...and it could have stood to be more faithful, which would make it feel more legitimate. The new "Sam the Snowman" narrator, voiced by Richard Dreyfuss, was very likable--but again, a wholly different snowman, taking over for Burl Ives' Sam. And, come to think of it, WHY couldn't they use stop-motion puppetry today, rather than recreating the characters in computers--which, of course, can create its own type of sheer magic, but is how nearly everything's done nowadays.

All of the voices are good. Tom (Spongebob! Who is more evident in Junior's voice, of course), Kenan, Molly, Christopher, Miranda...Roger...they did very well...but WHY couldn't they have tried to find someone who can do a good Vincent Price?! Peter, oKAY, he's older, so I can kinda understand...but Irontail? *sigh* Roger Moore has a great villain voice, actually, but you can't help but be disappointed in anything that doesn't sound like a valiant effort to imitate Vincent (think of Slinky Dog in Toy Story 3, or Fillmore in Cars 2! Now, those are jobs well done...in very sad situations, of course.) Anyway, it's a very Nickelodeon-derived cast. :3

April Valley: High-tech and modernized. Very similar to Hop, actually. In fact, this was made in 2005, but I finally bought it in 2011--the year Hop came out. Well, the similarities are rather striking! Easter bunny's son has trouble adjusting to the conventions of his future post. Hmmmm. Wonder whether there was any influence. Anyhow--the setting may not be as charming as in my beloved original, but it's still cute. There' still a nerdy assistant to the chief Easter bunny. :D The whole setting is still a springy paradise, but looks somewhat different as you'd probably expect. The "Easter factory" we now see is a large, more enclosed (and more "Hop"-like) place loaded with the usual types of huge, fantastical machinery and gadgetry that are so often used to produce "fun stuff" in family films.

Antoine: Good heavens, WHY is he still a (GIANT?!?) caterpillar?!? This is just distressing. How could they simply disregard his metamorphosis?!? Near the very end, a butterfly does flutter in front of him, and he then winks at the camera...was this supposed to be some sort of, "Yeah, I know I turned into one of those already, but now I'm back to being a caterpillar?" Like, someone realized that towards the end of production and said, "OMFG YOU GUYS WHY DIDN'T WE REMEMBER TO MAKE HIM A BUTTERFLY 'CUZ WE GOT SO USED TO HIM AS A CATERPILLAR?!?!" and then they inserted that to try to act like, "Yeah, duh, of course we knew that all along, it was a conscious choice! Get off my CASE, MAN!" o.o Yeeaap, never heard of a butterfly reverting to a caterpillar...then again, this isn't exactly the "real world" we're talking about...but still, it seems to follow our general rules for butterflies. I surmise that perhaps they preferred working with a caterpillar character over a butterfly, and figured people would be able to overlook the fact that he'd already transformed. No way they could have simply forgotten about that...o.O Although original caterpillar-Antoine was plainly an old and experienced one (meaning that they live a long time as caterillars before transforming), it would be a real stretch to think that by this point he STILL wouldn't be a butterfly...

VERY typical storylines: Child of the orignal's main character somehow doesn't "fit in," is a disappointment to their parent, is in some way irresponsible or foolish and makes mistakes much as the parent(s) did...scientifically minded inventor whose stuff always fails (think of A Bug's Life, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, etc., etc...even Rankin/Bass's first film [which I completely adore!!! Highly recommended! See it today, any way you can!!], Willy McBean and His Magic Machine.) The formerly spunky and spirited but immature and irresponsible main character is now the strict, worrisome parent of a child who's "just like s/he was at that age."

There is some very amusing writing in here that will actually stick with you (I’ve already found myself quoting the whole nougat spiel a few times.) On the whole, it's almost a worthy sequel. (I'm still kind of shocked at myself for saying so.)

The music and musical numbers: Okay, wow. At first I was hugely taken aback by the modernity and disappointed, even slightly appalled, at the gap between them and the orignal songs. However, repeated viewings have caused them to grow on me immensely. Yeah, they're very different from the original's, but they are well written and performed, and rather catchy/memorable/fun in their own rights. At the same time they represent the changes that have come even to the animated world, from past to present.

It's still a bit hard to accept this as the canonical sequel to the classic...it seems like too large of a jump into the future...but maybe not...I suppose I can accept it. Maybe several Easters from now it'll all feel quite natural... ^^;

JACKIE FROST: Yikes. I like this chick. She's sort of a flying fairy-thing who controls winter weather. Awesome. Her abused, waddling penguin henchbirds are adorable and absurdly hilarious, and remind me pleasantly of those from Mario games. xD Of course, one would think that of all arctic creatures (she could have arctic foxes or HARES, snow leopards, polar bears, walruses, sea lions, puffins, leopard seals, nordic dogs, etc.), she'd be less likely to have at her beck and call some of the least threatening and most ineffectual ones possible? Honestly, lol. Ah, well, at least they can pilot her awesome vehicle.

So, the villain situation...also quite typical. They want to make winter last forever. Grand. I love winter too (and "watching things shrivel"), but hopefully they can get her to appreciate the rest of the year. After all, what's one without the others? Can't have that, now can we?

Irontail. Hmmm. He looks preeetty good, but, he was accepted as a member of the April Valley Sanitation Department at the conclusion of the original. (Which is one of the many, many things I love so much about the Rankin/Bass shows; there are a lot of villain redemptions and reforms, and turning enemies into friends-- or at least, not forever banishing/despising/murdering the villains...) Anyway, Irontail. The guy was even right in the middle of the crowd of characters at the end, singing and waving and wishing viewers a happy Easter day. (Willingly or not, who knows, but he was THERE.) Now, it's years later, he's been gone from April Valley for some time, the story of what happened in the original has been passed down to Junior, who thinks it's "ancient history"...and then he turns up as a villain again. Teaming up with a fairy/pixie/magical humanoid lady. (A certain type of tension IS PALPABLE. XD) And the bickering--oh, the bickering! 'Tis so obvious!

But really, he's still bitter over the Easter bunny thing...? And just now it occurs to him how to take revenge? Well, all right, as long as we can take the ending of THIS movie as a sign of more positive relations to come. After all, how can the entirety of April Valley fail to be extremely forgiving and understanding, or resist Ironjack shipping?!?! *O*

Jackie's song sounds, looks, and feels a bit strange at first, but it's really pretty great once you get used to it (and the way they start off with her shaking it and gazing deeply into the camera lens.) It also makes plain that her full name must be Jacqueline Frost, what with her sudden French accent and lyrics in there. Huzzah for two French characters!

Now, a Jack Frost figure has been used as a 'villain' twice before that I can think of right away--antagonists to Frosty the Snowman (redeemed! Yay!) and to Tim Allen's Santa Claus. Ol' Jack was the hero but once, in his own Rankin/Bass show. And now, we have his feminine counterpart. Gee, I wonder where exactly Jack is...? He's retired and left things up to Jackie? And which Jack are we talking about: the one from "Jack Frost" or the Frosty one, who was a non-evil antagonist, envious just like Allen's of a more-beloved winter icon? I wonder whether there's a relation. She says, "Jack Frost is SO last century." So, women have overtaken men? Excellent. XD But that could possibly leave any sort of relationship between Jack and Jackie possible...family member? Ex-boyfriend? Hunh.

I like all three of the aforementioned Jack Frost incarnations. The one R/B one, the star of his own show, is sweet, but cannot have his human love in a real human sense. ;; The other--his adult version? Doesn't feel like it at all--has a sort of nasty and sneaky attitude, but I find him quite likable and think he deserves a happy ending. So, assuming that there have been different people filling the role of Jack Frost over time, it's tough to say which one in particular Jackie was referring to--maybe just the concept of "Jack Frost" as a whole. It's the dawning of a new era, after all. I am woman, hear me roar. So, yeah. Their relationship, whatever it may have been, is open to imagining...

We've seen the "stuck seasons"/"let's save [insert holiday/season]!" thing before, too, naturally. The seasons got stuck for the Berenstain Bears (and hey, for us in "reality" too, numerous times); winter kept on chugging right along and they had to convince Boss Bunny to come out of his funk and let spring/Easter come. 'Cause the holidays and seasons become inextricably linked.

"Mama Bunny": Who is she?? Is she supposed to be Donna?!? I found it difficult to believe they would have neglected to wed Peter and Donna...!! Yet this mother is a fairly blandly standard one with no hint at a name or familiar identity or anything...O.o I just kind of assumed she was older-Donna, but they really made very little effort to suggest that if it WAS indeed the intention...

What doesn't make sense: Why is it APRIL Valley, but the other three "seasonal lands" are all named for the actual season rather than for a month? It's incongruous. They're nice enough names, though. Summer Hill can't be THAT far from April Valley, right? A hill, a valley, two adjacent seasons....and yet Flutter's mom reacts to Pete, Jr. by telling him that he's a long way from home. :/

Well, obviously April Valley is the "center of spring," and their "Calendar Day" event celebrates the turn from the last full winter month (March) to the month containing the start of spring as well as Easter (April.) It doesn't correspond to the actual first day of spring.

The clocks are a great idea. "The spring of Spring." I like it. Again, of course, it's the odd one out, the one that doesn't really belong with the objects from the other three clocks. (Leaf, sun...literal spring? Lulz. You're so weird, spring. That's why we love ya.) But I do enjoy that this movie fits in well with the Rankin/Bass universe and can also coexist with all of the various mythologies within it. Even in the modern computer-generated format, it's evident in the colors, backdrops, designs, etc., that they tried to make the style gel with that of the original.

They mention that Father Time made the clocks (brilliant!) The whole concept of basing a holiday story around the seasons, creatures who control them or elements or weather, characters who want one season or type of weather to dominate, and so on, is quite common, but has never been done better than in their classic films. So here we have Jackie, and she is...ummm, shall we say, kind of provocative in a way reminiscent of Francesca from Mad Monster Party (bet they're friends.) She would get on swimmingly with Snow Miser (both Dick Shawn's and Michael McKean's, actually), the Winter Warlock (sorry, Winter), maybe even ol' Winterbolt. And Santa and the entire North Pole gang...she most definitely supports their "months of winter coolness and awesome holidays." And her ice fortress (what an ice princess/queen!) reminds me of Mt. Krumpit. xD

Montresor: Yay, they brought him back! But like Antoine,
he's...disproportionately huge, for some reason. And he reminds me of Fidget, from The Great Mouse Detective--another bat sidekick to a Vincent Price villain. I also maybe kinda get a hint of Bartok. :D

"Fluffy": Makes for a hilarious running joke, but fails to explain where the "January Q." fits into his name, then. Did he voluntarily drop the Fluffy and adopt the Irontail after "the accident?" o.O Still, even if they hadn't tried to literally NAME him fluffy, it would've been amusing just as a nickname for him--since he once had a fluffy tail, and wore a large one again in this to hide the artificial tail. Think about it, too...how painful it must've been to have a bloody oblivious rollerskating kid lop your tail off and then just keep rollin' on down the sidewalk...O.o Not sure I can exactly blame him for his generalized and continuous hatred, even if it was "an accident." >.> Ah, well. There's always hope for the future as far as repairing relationships, no matter how seemingly irreparably damaged.

At any rate, I do loooove the dynamic between Jackie & Irontail. The dancing! The way she tries to make him all welcome at her place, and get to know each other as partners...making him the coat/robe thing, teasing him...tcha, so cute. And the attraction couldn't BE any more apparent. Wahahahaha....her objection to his calling her "my dear."

^^ And man, I love Flutter the robin; he's so adorable and hysterical. Really nice design, too, with his mosaic-like feathers. He's just an all-around good character. And his MOM! Omg...xD

Munch the field mouse is kind of a little smart alec, but mostly she's just got a one-track mind, hardy har harr. The eagle...well, he's only "bad" because of how nasty he is about preying on small creatures...not the fact that he is a predator.

The "today/tomorrow" conflict is an homage to that of the original, and to the Yestermorrowbile...and of course, "If I Could Only Get Back to Yesterday." <3 They even included a constellation shaped like Peter. ;) So it's clear that they watched the first one carefully and were determined to remain fairly consistent and connected with it in some ways...but in others, they willfully disregarded it.

"Seymour" helps another Cottontail by being the all-knowing narrator and providing him with another, actually successful, invention (a bubble this time. Whoo! Geez, Pete, you could've just sought this guy out and had a great inventor mentor already instead of being such a Failmeister.) xD

Then they meet...WIND. Or to be more specific, the East-by-Southwest Wind! A clownish flying jellyfish windbag. LOL. I like him too; he's funny. Butcha know what? The Jay Leno-esque, humanoid North Wind from "A Miser Brother's Christmas" in no way resembles the guy (though he does resemble Lord Barkis Bittern from Corpse Bride!) XD They personified nature with only humanoid forms in that one. So I guess...only SOME winds are flying jellyfish? ^__^;
And then the ice floe scene is reminiscent of Rudolph and his pals floating. Then the ice sliding scene is SO Ice Age.

Anyway, the movie's got a pretty gratifying ending that involves an infernally, epically catchy remix of the Peter Cottontail theme song, characters rocking out in the name of Easter, and two particular ones frozen beside one another, exchanging priceless expressions suggestive of fill-in-the-blank, using your own imagination. This is scary; am I actually finding myself wanting a THIRD movie?!? Like THE BEE WHO SAVED ARBOR DAY? Oh, I gotta see that next, fer sure. Every holiday needs someone to rescue it, right?

Source of original, much longer version (more fascinating analysis, references, etc.): http://www.divshare.com/download/15315523-974