Carl the Critic: Recommends "The Little Drummer Boy"

Some people have often asked me "what is your favorite Christmas story?" To this I reply "the original one of course, the story of Mary, and Joesph and their quest to find shelter for a baby to be born." In all honesty if it wasn't for this story we wouldn't have Christmas to begin with, and we wouldn't have some of the other stories that came from it such as "The Little Dummer Boy". As a child I enjoyed watching this movie, it was a bout 25 minutes, stars José Ferrer, and is based on a very famous song about a boy who has nothing to give to baby Jesus except for his love for music. It premiered on TV in 1968, and has since been remembered and forgotten, but I'm making sure that it is never forgotten by writing a review on it.

As mentioned before it's the story of a boy who plays his drums for baby Jesus because he has no other gift to give to him. But it's more than that, it's the story of a boy who hates all human beings because his father and mother were murdered by a gang of thieves who also burned down his house. The boy's name is Aaron, and his only friends are a sheep, a donkey, and a Camel who can dance every time he plays the drums (I am serious). While minding his own "I hate all people" business he passes by some con men who kidnap him and his animals and forces them to play to try to earn money. Oh and Aaron doesn't smile, like ever, which forces José Ferrer to paint one on him, it's kind of random and silly but I guess that's the point. While preforming in the street with his animals, Aaron recognizes one of the men who killed his father (even though he had never seen him before, or at least as the movie indicated earlier), and this gets him angry and insulting the people.
José doesn't like this and yells at Aaron until they come across Three Wise Men. The Wise Men see a star in the sky and decide to follow it. But before they leave José tries to con money from them. He succeeds buy selling Aaron's camel to them, which makes Aaron angry. So now Aaron goes after the Wise Men to steal his Camel back, and as soon as he does his sheep gets run over by a passing cart. Aaron not sure what to do approaches one of the Wise Men and asks for help, but the Wise Man tells him that he can't do anything but the newly born baby can if Aaron gives him a gift. Aaron only has his drums, and decides to play a song for the baby. His playing is so good it actually makes Baby Jesus glow, and his sheep is okay again. And from then on, Aaron learned to not be so hateful to all people and he learned of the gift of love... So let's get to the critique.

"The Little Drummer Boy", as you can guess, was one of many television specials like "Santa Claus is Coming To Town", "Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer", and "Frosty The Snow Man", where the main selling point was that it was based off a Christmas song. I like how they give the Drummer boy a personality, and back story, and the movie's story in general is actually interesting. The stop-motion animation is dated (as far as technique goes) but okay, and José Ferrer gives a fun performance. The actor who played Aaron (Ted Eccles) was not that great, he delivered every line of dialogue the same, it was hard to tell whether he was angry or happy because he used the same tone through out the movie. The other music in the movie that wasn't "The Little Drummer Boy" was forgettable, not all bad, but forgettable, and had some of the most non inventive and uninteresting lyrics of any songs in one of these '60's animated shorts based on a Christmas song. But these can easily be overlooked if you can get into the story, which you can, especially if you have a family to watch it with.

I believe this movie is out on DVD along with all the other TV specials, and if you can get a good deal on it I highly recommend you do check some out. Some are not dated, but I particularly enjoyed "The Little Drummer Boy" because of what this film does for the character of the Little Drummer Boy, how the story is structured well, and it really has to do with what Christmas is about, not only to give gifts to one another, but also to give gifts with love, and caring to each other. Little Drummer boy has a special place in my heart as a classic Christmas movie and I hope you enjoy it as well. I give "The Little Drummer Boy" 8.7 out of 10.