Prancer (1989)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

John D. Hancock

Writer (WGA):

Greg Taylor (written by)

Release Date:

17 November 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Family

Tagline:

They lost the true spirit of Christmas...And found it locked in the heart of one little girl.

Plot:

Jessica, the daughter of an impoverished apple farmer, still believes in Santa Claus. So when she comes across a reindeer with an injured leg...

Plot Keywords:

Reindeer | Christmas | Santa Claus | Kids And Family | Independent Film

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Sam Elliott	...	John Riggs
Cloris Leachman	...	Mrs. McFarland
Rutanya Alda	...	Aunt Sarah
Abe Vigoda	...	Orel Benton
Michael Constantine	...	Mr. Stewart / Santa
Rebecca Harrell	...	Jessica Riggs
John Duda	...	Steve Riggs (as John Joseph Duda)
Ariana Richards	...	Carol Wetherby
Mark Rolston	...	Herb Drier
Johnny Galecki	...	Billy Quinn
Walter Charles	...	Minister
Victor Truro	...	Mr. Young
Marcia Porter	...	Mrs. Fairburn
Loren Janes	...	Mr. Soot
Robert Zimmermann	...	Wagnall

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Singapore:G | Canada:F (Ontario) | Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Iceland:L | Australia:G | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Denmark:7 (2003) | UK:U | USA:G

Filming Locations:

LaPorte, Indiana, USA

Company:

Cineplex-Odeon Films

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The scene is set in a snowy, cold down in the late fall/early winter. Yet breath from the cold can never be seen emerging from the characters.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Seinfeld: The Dog (#3.4)" (1991)

A good holiday film!

While not without a couple of problems [like pacing], PRANCER is one of the better family/holiday movies I've seen. I didn't see this until after I saw PRANCER RETURNS about a week ago on cable. After PRANCER RETURNS [the sequel to this] was over, I went to the video store and rented this. Now while this one seemed to have a lower budget than PRANCER RETURNS, it still is just as well-acted and heartwarming [if not even more so]. Most holiday movies tend to show the holidays as times where everything is perfect, but this one shows that the holidays aren't as perfect as we'd like them to be. It's able to capture the ups and downs of the holidays while keeping everything pretty close to reality. Though I really enjoyed the film, CHRISTMAS VACATION remains to be my favorite holiday flick.