There’s been a depressing lull in the output of movie reviews lately, for which I’d like to sincerely apologize. I certainly won’t imply that a recent work-induced schedule change has dulled my passion for discussing film, but it has certainly taken some time away from my writing about it. The low-effort April Fools review from a few weeks ago (for which I’d also like to apologize) was also, admittedly, more filler than anything, and that’s the first reason why I was hesitant to cover an Easter-themed movie for an in-between retrospective. I didn’t want to force any sort of seasonal film review simply because my theater visits were dwindling a bit, and at first, I thought that was reason enough to simply wait until my next theater trip to post a review.
The other reason, of course, being that the number of watchable Easter films and specials could probably only be counted on one hand. Most of these Easter specials (outside the famous Charlie Brown one) were entries in a veritable pantheon of stop-motion animated features by warmly-regarded animation studio Rankin-Bass, and only one of those Easter specials, “Here Comes Peter Cottontail”, seems to have held any remembrance in pop culture. This should come as little surprise, seeing as how most of the Rankin-Bass filmography has aged rather poorly in terms of animation and narrative, but some of their holiday specials (like “The Year Without a Santa Claus”, the aforementioned “Peter Cottontail”, and the topic-relevant “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town) still have an earnestness and charm present in their sentimentality and stories. The last of those three, especially, is a personal favorite of mine, as “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” serves as a cute, heartwarming, and surprisingly smart origin story for Saint Nick with likable characters and catchy songs. Given that the special is one of the most fondly remembered of the Rankin-Bass lot, it should come as no surprise that the studio would try to give the “holiday figure origin” story another go for the Easter season, and so, “The Easter Bunny is Comin’ to Town” was made.
And it’s… bad. Even by the standards of bunny-centric Easter specials, “The Easter Bunny is Comin’ to Town” is pretty bad, and if you’ll forgive me for being three days late, I’ll explain how.
The narrator from the aforementioned “Santa Claus” special (Fred Astaire) continues in his tradition of telling the story of holiday heroes by recounting the beginnings of the tradition of Easter eggs. As it turns out, the tradition begins in a mountainside town called “Kidville”, which, true to its name, is populated exclusively by orphaned children. After finding a lone baby rabbit on the outskirts of Kidville, the local children adopt him, naming him “Sunny” after seeing his love of the spring sun’s rays. As the bunny grows up over the course of a year, he offers to help the kids make ends meet by selling the town’s overabundant eggs as Easter approaches. His journeys to and from the neighboring town, however, are not as simple as they seem, as he must evade the holiday-hating, giant bear known as Gadzooks on each trip, and even the town itself proves a tough one for Sunny to endear himself to. This settlement, known only as “Town”, forces children to move out once they are born, and it has become a dreary, broken place overseen by the lonely young king, Bruce and his overbearing, tyrannical aunt, the local Duchess. Still, none of that will stop Sunny, as he is determined to spread both joy and Easter eggs to the town, encourage Bruce to stand up to his Aunt, and unite the towns on both ends of the mountain, all while indirectly beginning Easter traditions in the process.
If that plot synopsis didn’t make it any more transparent, this Easter special’s plot is basically that of “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town”, but with an Easter-shaded coat of paint. This need not necessarily be a problem, since the latter holiday special is still endearing and emotionally driven, but the problems with this special become achingly apparent once the story attempts to differentiate itself from its predecessor. For one thing, the “Easter Bunny” special relies heavily on the type of narrative logic that only makes sense in a children’s book, and while that line of thinking was cute and charming in the context of the Santa Claus mythos, it’s only arbitrary and eye-rolling here, like the makers of the special didn’t know how to flesh out a story about the Easter Bunny. This is especially apparent in two respects, the first of which is the Easter Bunny himself. Unlike with the “Santa Claus” Rankin-Bass story, the special doesn’t focus on Sunny’s growth into his role as a holiday herald, and the result is that the rabbit has all the unbridled charisma of a bowl of oatmeal. His main character trait is that he’s vaguely kind and generous, but he lacks the presence of the studio’s take on Santa Claus, who had a likeable, self-sacrificing personality, the voice of Mickey Rooney, and a plethora of good songs to his name. Sunny, meanwhile, gets overshadowed by the rest of the cast, which is a terrible blow against the special since they all range from boring to utterly obnoxious. The worst offenders are the villains, with Gadzooks being a one-note, poorly-voiced brute and the Duchess dialing up her royal twit personality so far that her only motivation for outlawing eggs (yes, I’m serious) amounts to “being evil, rich, and stupid”. None of that probably wouldn’t have mattered if there were memorable songs as with most of the Rankin-Bass specials, but there’s no such music here, since the songs function mainly as filler to distract from the bare-bones story. Good songs, like the ones from the “Santa Claus” special or even “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” directly play into the plot, and usually involve more interesting topics than the “chicken or the egg” debate, but the songs, once again, range from generic to obnoxious, and I’d probably blame that “chicken/egg” song for the delays this retrospective faced.
I could go on, but talking more about the failings of “The Easter Bunny is Comin’ to Town” would probably mean expending more effort than was put into the special itself. The plot is a blatant rehash (right down to the title), the characters are grating non-entities, the songs are auditory waste, and the overall special manages to be something that not even the worst of these specials are: boring. The only noteworthy thing I can say about this is that it’s a testament to both the failing of most Easter specials and the waning power of childhood nostalgia.
And though it’s been said twice, I am truly sorry for this dead air, readers. Rest assured that this is not how Rich Reviews goes out, and that I plan on hitting the theaters soon to cleanse our collective pallets of this nonsense.
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