Leave it to the Berenstain Bears to take a grizzly-sized dump all over our most holy of holidays. It isn’t bad enough that they make only the vaguest, most passing of references to the religious aspect of Easter, mentioning something about spring being a time for miracles, but then they have to slander the Easter Bunny, turning him into a disgruntled boss, ranting about all the benefits his employees want! And what kid doesn’t want to watch a holiday special with a constipated-looking rabbit singing “Who Cares About Easter”? Continue reading “The Berenstain Bears’ Easter Surprise (1981)”
Category: Easter
Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971)
While the first Rankin/Bass Easter special can easily be hailed as a surrealistic fever dream whose avalanche of eye-popping moments (Peter Cottontail dressed up as turkey, a spider flying in a rocket, a group of caterpillars wearing body paint that resembles the American flag), if they don’t exactly captivate a surely confused audience, at least give you reason to stay awake through the narcoleptic songs that litter Here Comes Peter Cottontail like so many unwelcome rabbit pellets, it is the introduction to constitutional law it gives children that really provides viewing value for do-gooder parents who demand cartoons be educational instead of fun. Continue reading “Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971)”
The First Easter Rabbit (1976)
The story of Easter can’t help but move you to your very soul! The love, the sacrifice, the moment of doubt and ultimately the resurrection that allows the message of hope to be spread to everyone for ever after! And though we inevitably come up wanting in trying to follow his example, his love for us never wanes! So I praise you Stuffy, the first Easter Rabbit! Continue reading “The First Easter Rabbit (1976)”
A Family Circus Easter (1982)
Perhaps owing to its underlying religious solemnity (and its lame secular holiday hero), Easter doesn’t have as deep of bench of animated specials like Christmas or Halloween. There’s the Peanuts special of course (and wouldn’t most of us just as soon as see the Easter Beagle replace the Easter Bunny?) and a couple of Rankin-Bass efforts, but after that, things get thin enough that the dedicated fan of seasonal shenanigans probably will at some point find herself watching the basket of smelly eggs known as A Family Circus Easter. Continue reading “A Family Circus Easter (1982)”
It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown! (1974)
One character will doubt the one she loves most. Another will continue living the personal hell that comes with a lack of belief in anything positive. Unrequited love, shoe shopping, stolen Easter eggs, designer bird houses and species identity confusion will also play a part in what shapes up to be the busiest holiday of not only any Peanuts special specifically, but of all other specials as well! Continue reading “It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown! (1974)”
King of Kings (1961)
As soon as King of Kings began, I felt my heart race and my left arm go numb when the narrator (Orson Welles) intoned that the year is 63 B.C. Maybe I don’t know a whole lot about this religious stuff, but I was smart enough to notice that we were starting things way before Jesus was ever immaculately conceived, let alone bugging Romans. I wondered just how much pre-game hype I was going to have to sit through. After all, I was paying to see a film about Christ and his times, not about how crappy everyone had it until he showed up. Continue reading “King of Kings (1961)”