Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny is a 1972 American musicalfantasy film written, composed, shot, edited and directed by Richard Winer to frame Barry Mahon's Childhood Productions films for a Christmas release. The plot concerns Santa Claus' attempts to free his sleigh from the sands of a Florida beach, assisted by local children.[1][2]
A few days before Christmas, in Santa's workshop at the North Pole, Santa's elves lament (via song) about how they make toys while Santa is away. Santa's reindeer return, but without Santa or his sleigh, prompting the elves to wonder (again in song) what has happened to Santa. Meanwhile, Santa has crash-landed on a beach in Dania Beach, Florida, gotten his sleigh stuck in the sand and been abandoned by his reindeer. Santa sings, bemoaning his troubles, then falls asleep.
In his sleep, Santa telepathically summons several local children, who run to him and offer to help. Santa explains that they must find a way to pull his sleigh from the sand, as he cannot abandon it. The kids bring Santa several animals to pull the sleigh, including a horse, a donkey, a cow, a sheep, a pig and a gorilla (really a man in a gorilla suit).
When all attempts fail, Santa encourages them not to give up hope, and begins to tell them the story of Thumbelina as an example. The film then cuts away to instead show Barry Mahon's previously produced film version of Thumbelina, in which a girl visits the now-defunct theme park Pirates World, hears the story in a Hans Christian Andersen attraction, and imagines herself as the title character. The Mahon film plays in its entirety, complete with its original credits sequence, and runs twice as long as the frame narrative (alternate prints use another Mahon fairy tale adaptation, Jack and the Beanstalk, as Santa's story).
Afterwards, Santa again encourages the children to "always believe" and they go off to find help. Santa takes off his coat and again falls asleep. He wakes up to the sound of an antique fire engine, which is being driven by the titular Ice Cream Bunny, whom the children's dog Rebel has summoned. The Ice Cream Bunny drives the children through Pirates World to the beach. Santa puts on his coat to prepare to meet them. He thanks the children for their help and accepts the Ice Cream Bunny's offer to drive him back to the North Pole. Santa reminds the children one last time to always have faith as they depart.
The children realize that Santa's sleigh is still stuck in the sand. As they wonder what to do, the sleigh abruptly teleports to the North Pole, where it will lie in wait for Santa's return.[6]
The Thumbelina version was released on VHS by United Home Video,[7] but is different from the theatrical version in that the film Thumbelina is shown after the Santa portion, rather than during it.
The Jack and the Beanstalk version has not been released on video, but the included film was released on DVD by Image Entertainment in 2002.[8]
Atrocious acting, cheap production values and a meandering long running time have earned a fan following as one of the worst Christmas movies ever made.[10]
RiffTrax version
On December 17, 2010, RiffTrax released Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny, with their synchronous commentary, as a "Video on Demand" download. It has since been made available on DVD as well by Legend Films as well as an extended in-studio edition.[11][12]
On December 3, 2015, RiffTrax presented a live screening of Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny in theaters across the United States.[13] For this performance, the alternate Jack and the Beanstalk version was used.[14][15][16] It is considered one of their popular titles and had footage later featured in RiffTrax: The Game.[17]
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