VividSimon Simply Perfect

Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

TheLittleSongbird Loved Yogi Bear as a child, and still have a soft spot for it now. It is a funny and charming show with appealing, funny and smart humour and likable characters, plus the characters are well voiced.'Yogi's First Christmas' is entertaining and charming with enough of what makes me like Yogi Bear in the first place and what makes me love Christmas. As far as Yogi Bear television specials/films go, 'Yogi's First Christmas' generally is among the better ones (the only bad one of the ones seen is 'Yogi's Great Escape'), though with its limitations.The limitations are particularly apparent in some of the animation. Some very nice vibrant colours and some details are well done, but generally the drawing lacks finesse and the backgrounds are a bit sparse and incomplete. Would have toned down the sound effects and the music is too 80s, pretty cheap and doesn't fit. Also felt that the villains didn't add an awful lot and the conflict convolutes the story a little, a shame because the story was fine as it was elsewhere.On the other hand, there is a lot of amusing writing that is true in spirit to the Yogi Bear show and what made it so appealing in the first place. A lot of the lines have a little corn but will garner several laughs and even more smiles. There is a real sense of fun and nostalgia, it's heart-warming and has a festive charm. As said, there are some nice colours that elevates the animation to a slightly better level. 'Yogi's First Christmas' is never dull, pretty lively actually, and it is hard not to feel warm, cosy, amused and touched seeing the story unfold and the characters interact. The spirit of Christmas is evoked perfectly.Characters mostly are great, with Yogi and Boo Boo likable characters. The voice acting is very good, with Daws Butler giving a bravura performance in multiple roles.In summary, not quite magical but fun. Die-hard fans will like it and so would those not demanding too much. 7/10 Bethany Cox

utgard14 Yogi and Boo Boo are awakened from hibernation by the arrival of their Hanna-Barbera friends Huckleberry Hound, Augie Doggie, Doggie Daddy, and Snagglepuss at Jellystone Park in this movie-length TV Christmas special. The plot has the gang, plus Ranger Smith, trying to stop a crazy old hermit who hates Christmas from causing a lodge to be shut down. It's Hanna-Barbera so the animation, while not bad, is nothing to get excited about. Plus the sound effects are loud and the music score canned. There are also some songs recycled from previous TV specials. How much you will like this depends on how much you enjoy Hanna-Barbera in general. I'm not a big HB fan as their cartoons were basically the worst parts of TV sitcoms, only animated. This does nothing to change my opinion. It's a decent Christmas special but not a classic by any means. The extra length also hurts it as there's barely enough material for a half-hour special, let alone triple that.

richard.fuller1 How much I loved Yogi Bear cartoons when I was little.This period in the early eighties was the lowest point for the HB 60's characters. After Laff-A-Lympics and Scooby cloning, these holiday episodes of Yogi, Flintstones, Casper and Scooby Doo must stand as how low the characters would sink.From sudden song singing that wakes Yogi up, to Ranger Smith telling Booboo the rich lady will sell the lodge because Yogi carried a tray of food upstairs and hasn't returned.And why was Yogi wearing ice skates in the hotel? Suspense would consist of Ranger Smith suddenly chasing after Yogi and wanting Yogi back in his cave, to Yogi feeling he must jump out of windows to get away from Ranger Smith. Just too forced plot development.Herman Hermit was another attempt at Yosemite Sam. HB would strive to have their own Yosemite Sam, as well as a handful of tries at getting the Tasmanian Devil (the best known one being the Frankenstones' Hardrock).Tho it was convoluted, there was greater plot development (and that really isn't saying much) with Yogi being promoted in the lodge business.And how about Cindy's seductive dance toward Booboo? What was that all about? And Booboo would sing a really meaningless song about hope.The scraped together HB characters here were Huck, Snag, Augie Doggy and Doggy Daddy. None of the others, like Quickdraw or Magilla Gorilla, turned up.And that nauseatingly peppy song turns up in the Casper's first Christmas cartoon too.Ah, my dear friends, where have you gone? Yogi and his gang would be subjected to Yogi's Space Race and Yo Yogi after this, but this period here, when the Saturday morning cartoons were subjected to that infamous cartoon strike and reruns were re-distributed instead, making what was supposed to show up look much much worse, really was an incredible lowpoint for the HB line.

TheMan3051 ....brought to you by Hanna-Barbera!Yogi's First Christmas is a cute Christmas special with Yogi and Bobo and how they skip hibernation in an adapt to have a Christmas! This is a fun cartoon which I used to enjoy watching when I was growing up.3(***)out of 4(****)stars