One may mistake “Prancer” as a typical holiday feast of merriment and goodness. I surely did. After all, the 1989 movie is ‘G’ rated, and follows a young girl and her mission to reunite a wounded reindeer with Santa Claus. But have no illusions. “Prancer” is at times dark, and at times tough to watch. It has a deeper appeal than most of today’s cheesy Hallmark/Netflix holiday movies in which Male Model A meets Female Model B and they fall in love. “Prancer” has elements of death, loneliness, and heartbreak contained within its borders.
I was quite young in November of 1989, and vaguely remember the release of the movie. More recently, a scene at a movie theater in the show ‘Seinfeld’ brought it to my attention, and low and behold, it’s available to watch for free on Amazon Prime. It’s hard to imagine that “Prancer” came out a year before the epic Christmas blockbuster “Home Alone” and one of my favorite movies “Kindergarten Cop.” Its quality has a mixture of home video/vhs feel to it. It’s pure 1989, and for that alone it gets two thumbs up.
Jessica Riggs (Rebecca Harrell) is an adorable nine-year-old who loves Christmas, and has a particular affection for Santa’s magical reindeer. She finds one such caribou in the woods near her family’s apple farm, bleeding from a hunter’s bullet, and sneaks it home to nurse it back to health, believing it to be one of the flying reindeer that pull Santa’s sleigh. At nine-years-old, Rebecca Harrell steals the show. She has the perfect blend of cockeyed optimism and devout faith in magical elements that we would expect any tot to possess. She’s carefree in her daily actions, shown sledding and having a great rapport with her best friend (played by Arianna Richards, 4 years before “Jurassic Park” fame).
Jessica has lost her mother prior to the events of the movie, and has a difficult time dealing with that void, evidenced by a perfectly silent shot of her gazing at a photograph, or rubbing shoulders with her gruff father (Sam Elliott), who likewise, is harboring feelings of sorrow and helplessness – something the manly outdoorsman is unable to reconcile with. “We’re not poor.” He reminds her in an early scene. “We’re just down on our luck.” No one other than Sam Elliott could play this character, and he does so almost too well, at times being so hard on Jessica it’s painful to watch.
I was enthralled with the story from the very start. From the acting of Sam Elliott and Rebecca Harrell (who is now a successful filmmaker and activist herself) to the near perfect directing of John Hancock (not the founding father) which keeps the element of magic at bay. From the moment Jessica encounters Prancer in the woods, we are never shown any fantastical components. The story is that of a cute kid who must keep her animal friend a secret as she schemes to deliver him back to Santa.
Prancer’s arrival does more than give Jessica something to hope for, with other characters in the story such as a cantankerous neighbor (Cloris Leachman) and of course her father, being positively affected as well. Hancock does a brilliant job of keeping us in suspense as to whether or not Prancer is anything other than just a wild deer and, I won’t spoil anything here, but the ending scene, while incredibly tearful and touching, tarnished the entire film just a bit.
The setting is perfect. It’s a snow covered small town of Three Oaks, MI. You can feel the cold through your screen in a way modern cinema just can’t do. Interesting note – much of the filming was done in the town of Utica, IL – sharing a namesake with the city that founded this very website.
“Prancer” is a great Christmas movie. It has an original plot and deeper holiday themes than simply finding love or childish antics. It would easily get an A if not for one small issue at the very end.
