Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer (film)

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
Genre Christmas special, fantasy, comedy-drama, musical
Directed by Phil Roman
Starring Michele Lee
Voices of Elmo Shropshire
Michele Lee
Alex Doduk
Susan Blu
Cam Clarke
Christopher Gaze
Phil Hayes
Scott McNeil
Pauline Newstone
Maggie Blue O'Hara
Venus Terzo
Jim Fisher
Jim Staahl
Kathleen Barr
Narrated by Elmo Shropshire
Composer(s) Nathan Wang
Randy Brooks
Country of origin United States
Canada
Original language(s) English
Production
Executive producer(s) Phil Roman
Producer(s) Jim Fisher
Noel-Quinn Roman
Jim Staahl
Running time 51 minutes
Production company(s) The Fred Rappoport Company, Inc
Phil Roman Entertainment
SFM Entertainment
Distributor Warner Home Video
Release
Original network The WB
Original release October 31, 2000 (2000-10-31)

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer is a Canadian–American animated Christmas special, directed by Phil Roman. The special first aired October 31, 2000 on The WB. It has subsequently aired on The CW (the successor to The WB) and Cartoon Network during the Christmas season. Since Warner Home Video distributed this special, Time Warner owns the copyrights. The title and plot are based on the novelty song of the same name.

Plot

The show begins by introducing Jake Spankenheimer, the main character, along with his family, most notably his Grandma, who owns a small general store in the town of Cityville. The store also happens to be the only piece of property not owned by Austin Bucks, the wealthiest man in town, whose company specializes in making Christmas easier and less involved for the town's overly busy residents. Grandma, however, tells Austin that his method of trying to make Christmas easier is not really for the best and refuses to sell the store. This runs afoul of the gold-digging Cousin Mel, who plans to sell the store anyway.

Jake loves the holiday season, as does his grandmother, though most of his family is not as excited about it. Jake and his sister, Daphne, quarrel over Santa Claus' existence, as Jake's parents gently try to break the news to him that Santa is not real. Meanwhile, Cousin Mel comes up with a plan to sabotage Grandma's famous fruit cake recipe, secretly adding a secret ingredient with hopes that they won't sell, forcing Grandma to sell the store to Austin Bucks. Grandma, who hadn't taken her medication that evening, then takes the fruit cakes and her other baked goods with her when she leaves the house on Christmas Eve night, but as she leaves Santa flies by overhead and his reindeer, suddenly out of control, crash into her. Jake sees out the window, but the family refuses to believe him. The next morning, however, Grandma is missing, and the police find an imprint of her in the snow, along with her belongings. Cousin Mel also finds a letter explaining what happened that she quickly hides from the others. However, no one can tell where Grandma is herself.

Almost a year passes without Grandma, and during this time, Cousin Mel comes up with a new plan to sell the store to Austin Bucks, by tricking Grandpa into giving her his power of attorney. She then plans to sell the store to Austin Bucks. However, when Jake objects, Austin agrees to give him another week in order to find Grandma before going through with the deal. Adamant in his belief that Santa ran over her, Jake e-mails Santa, and soon Quincy, Santa's head elf, comes to take Jake to the North Pole. It turns out that Santa had run over Grandma, but had then taken her back to the North Pole for medical treatment. Unfortunately she now has amnesia, and until receiving Jake's e-mail Santa had been unsure of who she was. However, when Jake explains the situation back in Cityville, Santa, Quincy and the amnesiac Grandma agree to go with him to stop the deal.

When they arrive in Cityville, however, Cousin Mel and her attorney, I.M. Slime, quickly come up with a plan to kidnap Grandma. After Santa explains to Austin Bucks what happened, Jake and Quincy discover that Grandma has gone missing again. Cousin Mel and I.M. Slime then accuse Santa of being behind her disappearance, and he is put on trial for kidnapping, leaving the scene of an accident and "sleighicular negligence." The two then plot to sue him, deducing that someone who can pay for billions of presents must be incredibly wealthy.

Jake becomes suspicious that Cousin Mel may have been involved in Grandma's second disappearance, and follow her to a cabin in the woods where she and I.M. Slime have been keeping Grandma. They rescue Grandma, and also find the piece of paper Cousin Mel had found at the site of Grandma's accident - a note from Santa explaining what had happened—and a vial of the ingredient Cousin Mel had added to Grandma's fruit cakes, which turned out to be "reindeer-nip". They then manage to restore Grandma's memory by feeding her some of her own famous fruit cake, and rush to the courthouse to prove that Cousin Mel had been behind everything that happened to Grandma.

Confronted with the evidence, Cousin Mel is forced to confess everything she did, that she hid the note, made Grandpa sign his rights to the store to her, and that she plotted the trial. She's even made to confess that she hates the true meaning of Christmas and how everyone shares and cares. She is then placed under arrest and the judge lets Santa go. Austin Bucks then approaches Grandma again, this time offering to franchise her store throughout the country, having seen how much she and Jake care about their family and family business. Touched by this, Grandma agrees to the franchising.

The show ends with Grandma accidentally picking up the tainted fruit cake instead of her own recipe, with the result that Santa hits her again as he's trying to fly back to the North Pole. Grandpa and Jake pick her up; this time Grandma didn't suffer amnesia. Santa's sleigh takes off into the night with him saying the Spanish phrase for "Merry Christmas".

Characters

Home media releases

Warner Home Video released Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer to VHS on October 31, 2000 and to DVD on October 16, 2001.

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