Starring: Tom Bosley, Florence Henderson, Bruce Marchiano, Paige O'Hara, Malcolm-Jamal Warner Directed By: John Schmidt Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC Label: 20th Century Fox Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: October 15, 2002 Running Time: 42 minutes Theatrical Release Date: June 01, 2001
Product Description: With the help of a little girl, a mysterious stranger tells the story of the candy cane to the people of the small prairie town of West Sage. Genre: Christmas Rating: NR Release Date: 12-OCT-2004 Media Type: DVD
Amazon.com: Based on the bestselling book, The Legend of the Candy Cane is an inspirational animated Christmas story brimming with Christian virtues. A stranger named John Sonneman and the young Matt, who has recently lost his parents, journey to the sleepy prairie town of West Sage in the company of a talking horse and a mountain goat that's afraid of heights. The newcomers' tempestuous acceptance into the small community effects positive change in the lives of themselves, the townspeople, and even the animals. As John Sonneman prepares to open a candy shop, he bestows a small but priceless gift on a now-motherless girl named Lucy--a red and white striped, peppermint candy cane replete with Christian symbolism. Bright animation, engaging Christian popular and jazz songs, and a timeless message about hope and the power of the individual make this a modern Christmas classic. DVD features include a "making of" segment featuring storyboards in progress and interviews with stars like Florence Henderson, Tom Bosley, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner; a discussion of how animation is done; and four songs--"I Think I Know," "Sleigh Ride," "View from My Window," and "Candy Cane Song." (All ages) --Tami Horiuchi
Excellent for Christian homes This heart warming movie is excellent. Yes, it doesn't go with the book, but the story is exceptional. The whole family loves to watch it even when it's not around Christmas time. For the price you can't hardly find a better movie.
Christmas & Christian Message Weak in this DVD I have heard of the "Legend of the Candy Cane" but have not read the book upon which this movie is based. For a "Christian" movie, I was quite disappointed with the weakness and almost "microscopic" portrayal of God in this DVD.
For kids with a steady "diet" of Hollywood and Disney based movie features, this DVD may be OK. It is certainly not an anti-family movie and in the end it does portray somewhat of a "typical" family with 2 parents and siblings.
My husband and I are very selective about the media (in all its forms - music, video, books etc.) and with such selective criteria, sometimes the selections seem rather sparse. In this DVD, there is a wolf which behaves as if it is a rabid wolf rather than your average hungry wolf; perhaps this is done for the effect of "drama" or suspense, but how necessary is it really to the story? Yes, there are frightening things in life, things which threaten to harm us; Scripture tells us that the enemy is out like a wolf that will scatter the flock, but wolves behave more stealthy than the glaring, yellow-eyed and foaming at the mouth wolf in this video.
The central focus of the "Christmas story" in this film is more about the "romantic Cupid-style" love depicted in our popular media rather than the love of God, who humbled himself by coming to the earth as a man, born to a virgin whose purpose was to redeem mankind from sin through His death on the cross and resurrection.
Also, there is a church in the film but it makes no discernible impact on the lives of the townspeople. The people of the town lack hope and the mysterious Candy man who comes to town does not offer Christian hope because he does not share the message of Christ with them in any meaningful way (i.e. the Christian message is muted in symbolism but not clearly stated). Sure, there are some good points made, but no real overarching moral lesson is evident in this DVD.
One of the characters finds her "heart broken" and longs for greater adventure and discovery than what is available to her where she is and she sings a longing song for travel to LA and NYC, hardly a depiction of Biblical hope.
There is a side-story in which the various animals are interacting; one scene in particular where the dog is mocking/ "making fun of" the mountain goat who is afraid of heights, the scene is drawn out, it seems, "just for laughs" but there is no explanation or correction to the mocking behavior of the dog, although the dog does receive consequences to his action. While the "pay back" to the dog is not portrayed as malicious, it is still a form of revenge, a "tit for tat," if you will, showing the dog "a little of his own medicine."
The Legend of the Candy Cane Although the movie wasn't quite what I had expected, it is a good family movie with a great message!
disapointed I needed this movie to better reflect the book...it condensed the 'candy cane' part of the story and drug out the extra story lines.... As I was using it to open a dialogue about the true meaning of Christmas, this was very disapointing. I finally turned it off, and just told the story.
A great story for Christmas. Boys and girls of all ages will love this DVD. The message is clear without being pushy.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Not Available Comics
Trevor
