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Olive, the Other Reindeer

Olive, the Other Reindeer

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $13.48
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Christmas Spirit
Review: "Olive, the Other Reindeer" is a cute, cheerful, fun story about a dog named Olive attempting to save the world from a presentless Christmas. There are a few funny parts, as well as parts that keep you interested. The movie is a good one to glance at every now and then while doing activities such as decorating the Christmas tree, preparing for Christmas, or celebrating Christmas itself. I saw this movie on television a year or two ago, and found it to be much better then I had thought it would be. Small children will especially love the big eyed little dog and her sneaky but caring penguin friend. I recommend it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Christmas Joy For "All Of The Other" Raindeer
Review: A sweet Christmas story of triumph over grinches, commercialization, and misunderstandings. Matt Groening goes from Life in Hell to the Simpsons to yet another triumph. A sense of humor and perspective on life alternative to the sweet drippings of frosty the snow man, Groening cuts current culture to a magnificent vision of what it means to be with each other over the holidays. Hey, there is a reason Nordstorm picked up on Olive and made it their advertizing campaign!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a great story- as UNoffensive as you can get
Review: a sweet tale about a sweet dog. a new classic. my (very religious) family loves it for the simple fact that it's a nice, WHOLESOME story.
now let ME make some points.
what is wrong with having a mennorah at Santa's house? (...),

it is NOT 'round young virgin' but 'round jon version'. a joke.

if you don't like it, don't buy it, but don't search for ridiculous reasons to trash it (...)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Excellent Holiday Treat
Review: Arguably, this is the best Christmas movie to come out since Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story" (which, it surpasses) and ranks up there with "Scrooge" with Alastair Sim and "It's A Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street" with Edmund Gwynn. It is a story which celbrates giving, not getting--and giving with great effort, way beyond one's means and talents. It is a joyful story that we share yearly with our daughter who is now eight. The dialog is witty; the songs are catchy; the animation is enjoyable. The story is simple: a dog mistakenly think's she is Santa's replacement reindeer and has the chutzpah and will to prove it. Even Pope John Paul II makes a cartoonic cameo appearance as the recipient of a rather fetching baseball cap! It far surpasses the rest of the Christmas drivel that shows up every December, year after year. To paraphrase Linus in "A Charlie Brown Christmas," it reminds us of what Christmas is really about.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is what Christmas is about
Review: Bad people turning good - Isn't that what Christmas is about? Everyone except the Postman is improved by their contact with Olive. So to all you 'Christians' who complained about this movie, I suggest you revalue what you believe and who you are.

AND.....Drew Barrymore is right voice for Olive - I mean would a Jack Russell have an operatic voice?

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Read what a parent of a young child thinks......
Review: Before I begin you need to know I am writing as a parent of a 3 year-old who tries to limit television viewing to non-violent content. If I were single or childless my review would have been very different.

This video takes just a glimmer of the books' original content and makes a whole different story out of it. If you enjoyed the book then don't assume the video is the same story as I did. If anyone is wondering, the book is short picture book appropriate for babies on up. (The content of the book is innocent and happy, with no negativity or violence.)

I bought the video not having previewed it first, for my 3 year-old. I was not happy with him being exposed to this type of negative and violent content. Based on my liking the book, I assumed the story was the same and good content but I was wrong.

The video is peppered with negativity and language inappropriate for a small child. Here are just some of the things that go on that I didn't like: Olive's owner loves her and is telling her that and she can't hear him. The flea is the interpreter and tells the dog that the owner doesn't love her and wants her to go away. Olive is upset and sad. (That amount of sad emotion seems out of place and unnecessary.) Christmas is cancelled due to a reindeer being sick and children are upset. Olive pairs up with a penguin (a character not in the book) who speaks like a mobster and sells fake Rolex watches and stolen stationary on the city streets out of a briefcase. Penguin explains that he stole the stationary when he was fired from his job at the city pound. One reason given for the termination was that he was smuggling in dirty magazines for all to read. (What are small children supposed to know about dirty magazines? As a parent what explanation am I supposed to give when my 3 year-old asks what that is and why it is so bad he'd get fired?) There is a deranged, mean postal delivery man who hates Christmas since he doesn't like the increase in work load during the Christmas season. He kidnaps Olive and wants to hurt her. Olive escapes and rejoins the penguin but then they go into a North Pole bar full of nasty talking characters (including reindeer) who proceed to try to injure them by throwing them all over the room and threatening to throw them off the roof. Words such as jerk and idiot are used to name-call Olive and the penguin (who is now seen as a nice, good, character). There is talk of how the North Pole area is in bad financial times all because Santa called off Christmas. Olive ends up flying with the reindeer and saves the day and Christmas is on.

I have no idea what the producers where thinking and to what age this would be appropriate. This is nothing like the old Christmas shows I remember from my childhood such as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman. Marketers of the video stated this is bound to be a new Christmas classic-if this is indicative of what our society thinks as good entertainment for young children and classic material our society is really in trouble!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Inoffensive cartoon dog saves Christmas, delights Christian.
Review: First off, this animated Christmas special is not for toddlers or infants. If you are looking for something stimulating and harmless for the high-chair set, try sitting junior in front of some colored, blinking lights and leave the wit and satire to those who can properly appreciate it. "Olive the Other Reindeer" is a funny, wonderfully animated story that has layers of meaning and humour that are best suited to the 10-to-adult, 'Simpsons' fan-base.

The message of hard work, acceptance and charity that is expressed in this special is far from 'anti-Christian' and is, in fact, much better than the 'buy our toys' sentiment conveyed by most contemporary holiday fare. With jokes, songs, celebrity cameos and an innovative, cut-paper animated style, "Olive" is truly 'family-entertainment' that can be enjoyed by most everyone in the family - except those who wear bibs and diapers (sorry Grandpa).

P.s. To the irrate 'Christian' who, among other things, thinks that the representation of a Menorah denotes an anti-Christian slant: what does Santa Claus have to do with Christ anyway? I must've missed that passage in the Bible in which Kris Kringle and the flying reindeer make an appearance.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A few corrections to the "christian"
Review: First, this is a great show, but I needed to correct a couple of things from an earlier review. X-mas is not a derogatory way of referring to christmas, in fact use of the X dates back to early christianity when being a christian could get you killed. The X represents the cross, and it, along with that hollow fish you see stuck on the back of so many cars these days were symbols used by christians to identify each other and places where they could congregate safely. To say that X-mas is somehow offensive shows an astounding lack of knowledge of christian history to someone claiming to apparently be the arbiter of christian taste.
The name you quote as offensive is round JOHN virgin by the way, which is exaclt what those lyrics sound like when sung, so lighten up or get a lif, preferably both!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Olive, the Other Reindeer is a new holiday classic
Review: How could you not love this story? The title alone will make you smile! But then someone got the great idea of animating this story of a small but brave little dog named Olive who jumps at the chance to join Santa's team of reindeer when Blitzen is injured AND letting Drew Barrymore do the voice of Olive. By the time you recognize the voices of Dan Castallaneta, Ed Asner, Peter MacNichol and Michael Stipe, you realize that they all signed on because this is a quality holiday story. It has been a long time boys and girls since we have had a new one this good to enjoy during the holiday season. Even if you have not enjoyed the charming book by J. Otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh, you will adore the movie. Or visa versa. If you have kids they will want to watch this one over and over, but do not worry about it; you will not mind that one bit.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This Movie Is Great!
Review: I belive this is one of the best little Christmas storys ever written and animated.ALL my kids fell in love with Olive,even my 13 and 17 year-old!I think Drew Barrymore did a great job acting the part and I read the review from the person that says it's violent and rude.I think He/She is the one with a prob.Well I HIGHLY recomend this to kids and adults alike you'll be sure to fall in love every time you watch it!


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