Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

walka_sp I love this movie because it brings me to tears at multiple points but doesn't taste sickly sweet or manufactured. With clutter and tight rooms, their old farmhouse looks like it was plucked straight from the Michigan countryside rather than designed on a Hollywood set. The actors look like real people that you would find in a small rural town - heavy-set bodies, frizzy hair, wrinkles, and lived-in wardrobes. Sam Elliot is in perfectly rugged form as the grieving, widowed father.Some of the themes are dark for a children's Christmas film. The little girl, Jessica, is grieving her mother's death. She discusses the existence of God with her school friend. Her father struggles to keep their family afloat and is faced with tough decisions that may tear them apart.And while the movie is comfortably rooted in the real world, there's just enough Christmas-wish-fulfillment to make the movie sparkle. The townspeople are close-knit and know each other's first names. There are Christmas carolers, candle-lit church services, and a constant blanket of beautiful snow on the ground. Oh, and there's a reindeer that just might be Santa's Prancer.Underneath the literal storyline, the film is about faith and the power of belief. It reminds us that Christmas is a time to once again believe in a magic beyond which we can see - a belief that comes so easy during childhood.Give this under-praised Christmas classic a try and you won't be disappointed. Kids will love the Prancer storyline while adults will end up sobbing watching the father-daughter relationship deepen and grow. "Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside the curtain and view the supernal beauty and glory beyond."

lesko_lori Prancer is a story of the Christmas spirit in the modern age when a motherless little girl and her bitter father come together at the end to watch the injured and captured reindeer fly off toward the full moon on Christmas Eve.We don't know as viewers if the final tinkle of bells was heard only by the girl and whether Prancer magically leaped off of the mountain to join the rest of the reindeer on Santa's sleigh. Is it a real image flying across the moon -- or only in the girl's mind? But her Dad chooses to "see" it too, and believe his child -- all in in the spirit of Christmas.A movie for all ages.

mark.waltz As the world seems to escape further and further from the real meaning of Christmas, it is important to remind ourselves that the holiday wasn't created to give praise to some old fat bearded man in a red suit. Yes, Jessica Riggs (Rebecca Harrell) believes in Santa, but she also believes in the baby boy born in a manger in the middle of a Bethlehem stable. She sings gloriously loud and proud of her innocent faith, and while her teacher appreciates her enthusiasm, she must ask her to tone it down a bit so the other kids singing in the annual Christmas pageant aren't drowned out. Her classmates consider her a bit of a geek, so poor Jessica is almost a bit of an outcast. This makes her faith all the more powerful and her story all the more touching.Jessica's down on his luck father (Sam Neill) has been working hard to make ends meet, and while he's not enthusiastic about the holidays, he doesn't want to spoil his daughter's. Jessica happens to come across an injured reindeer whom she is certain is the mythic Prancer. Her efforts to take care of the deer's injury are interfered with by the concerned adults of the small community she lives in, and when the deer ends up in a cage, Jessica is concerned because she fears Prancer's absence will stall Christmas around the world.While most of the cynical adults don't see Jessica's perspective on the situation, a few do, including local handyman Abe Vigoda and aging recluse Cloris Leachman. Her typical curmudgeon character was once a major patroness of the Christmas decorating season but has withdrawn from society, and it is up to the little Jessica to show her that a closed heart can be re-opened. The magic of the season is felt throughout and brings joy into both the viewers and cynical characters Jessica encounters throughout. As I prepare for the New York City holiday season with tons of Santas and elves running around creating havoc, I can look back at films like this, "A Christmas Story" and other classics, and remind myself that the distractions meant to make us forget about and what the season really is about.

TheBlueHairedLawyer Jessica Riggs is a pretty annoying and dopey little girl living with her caring but strict father on a farm in a small town. Her mother is gone and she has a lot to deal with in life at the moment, so the last thing she was expecting was to find a reindeer injured on Christmas (There are reindeer in Canada but everyone just calls them caribou, they aren't very special, they're on the Canadian quarter as well, just some extra trivia). Anyway, her loving pops is the very guy to run over the poor thing, and suggests eating it, to which Jessica freaks out and ends up hiding the reindeer in the horse stable, getting an elderly veterinarian to take care of it. She names the reindeer Prancer (ugh...) and hopes it'll somehow fly off like a jumbo-jet into the night sky to get back to Santa on Christmas Eve. Meanwhile she gets her cranky neighbor, Mrs. McFarLand, to stop being such a... a witch... and ends up making a new friend. But how long will Prancer remain her secret before pops finds out? I saw this when I was a little girl, and hated it. I decided recently to watch it again and see if maybe I'd enjoy it more, but no, just as bad if not worse. The soundtrack was typical and unmemorable, the acting decent but not enough to improve the movie, and so many flaws that you'd have to be either a three-year-old or a drunk to not see them. For one, Mr. Prancer the lovable reindeer, is a female caribou. And I'm not anti-religious or anything, but I'm not religious and I don't need all the "have faith in god" stuff shoved down my throat in a kid's movie. The story was easily predictable and boring.Now, I'm an adult and this is a movie for children, so I watched it with my little brother to see if he enjoyed it since he's a kid. Well, he told me halfway through it to pause it so he could go use the bathroom, and the next thing I knew he was climbing out the window, into the backyard and heading out to the shopping mall to escape. I honestly don't blame him.