Ddey65 If you told me this movie existed before December 2014, I might find it hard to believe you. I say "might," because I can look it up on IMDb like anybody else. Regardless, it was a thread on an IMDb message board over a new Rifftrax version of the 1959 Mexican movie about Santa Claus where I learned of this movie. Much to my stunned and almost terrified surprise, I realized it does exist. So after the 2014 Christmas season, and a few YouTube clips of Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy making fun of this movie, I finally got a DVD of this, and let's just say that I don't think I could've survived without them. This movie is living proof that there were far worse things on screen in 1972 than news footage of the Vietnam War, the troubles in British-Occupied Ireland and the Palestinian terrorist attack at the Munich Olympics.You don't even have to see the movie to know the story. Santa gets his sleigh stuck on the beaches of South Florida, and calls kids from the region to help him out, including of all people Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. They try to pull him out with various animals, and apparently one guy in a gorilla suit. Suddenly Santa decides to tell them the story of Thumbelina, and the movie is cut to that 1970 version of Thumbelina, which was also produced by Pirate's World. And both movies are narrated by some old lady, who in the Thumbelina movie was the voice of a old female mole. The girl playing Thumbelina is very pretty, but she can't sing to save her life. Nevertheless, she goes through the expected routine and lives happily ever after. But even that doesn't do squat to get Santa back to his usual Christmastime deliveries. Then suddenly off in the distance, the "Ice Cream Bunny" arrives on a 1920's Ford Model T fire truck and Christmas is saved... except for the audience, and the kids who were in this movie. For them, Christmas is ruined.Oh, but wait: There's ANOTHER version of this, and it's just as horrid. Instead of telling the story of Thumbelina, you've got Santa telling the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, and Jack looks a lot like Adam Lamberg from "Lizzie McGuire." The Giant's songs are equally intolerable as well. This story was made in the same year, and yes, this was made at Pirate's World too. This movie makes that K. Gordon Murray movie about Santa Claus look like the great Rankin-Bass Christmas specials of the 1960's, and that movie made "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" look like one of those Rankin-Bass masterpieces. The movie is so whacked out and stupid, that if any kid who saw it went to a therapist later on in life and mentioned it's existence, the shrink would have them committed to the nearest mental institution. In fact, if any psychiatrists are reading this and they had patients who mentioned seeing this movie, they should get those patients released from the funny farms right away.Believe it or not, I was also going to mention a GOOD movie that added one story to another in order to extend it, but I changed my mind. This movie is so bad, it's guaranteed to make even the most devoted, clean-cut, God-fearing Fundamentalist Christians say to themselves "What the f*ck did I just watch?" Finally, I don't think any review can be written without asking the question of why THIS bunny is specifically "the ice cream bunny." Did he hand out ice cream at Pirate's World? Was he some corporate mascot for a local dairy company that sold ice cream and sponsored a portion of the park? Nobody knows, except the former owners of that amusement park, and they're probably too embarrassed to be associated with the place, let alone answer any questions about it.

Mike Vukovich Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny is nothing short of a pristine cinematic masterpiece and a dramatic triumph. The film takes us on an incredible journey as we witness Santa Claus' valiant yet fruitless attempts to free his sleigh from the devastating desert sands as he struggles with the scorching Florida heat and a borderline existential crisis, assisted by a colorful cast of children and wild animals that liven up the experience and bring some much-needed comic relief. Throughout the work, we are presented with themes of man against nature, the juxtaposition of fiction with reality, dramatic irony, and plenty of cues from the greatest works of Shakespeare, Moliere, Dickens, Cervantes, and many other masters. The Ice Cream Bunny is one of the greatest and most deeply-developed characters in all fiction, and deserves much more than the minimal amount of screen time that he was given. With an engaging plot and cinematic mastery, Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny will be remembered by many cinema enthusiasts for years to come.

geminiredblue Several months ago, I received a DVD of this from RiffTrax. I popped it into my player and wondered those five deadly words "How bad could it be?" To sum up in one word... AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Every single second of this movie is guaranteed to hurt. The story: Santa inexplicably winds up in Florida and his sleigh is stuck in the sand. The reindeer have all flown back to the North Pole where a bunch of children dressed as elves sing and make more toys, despite the fact that Santa's nowhere to be found. Meanwhile back in Florida, how is Santa going to get himself out of this dilemma? By using his magic to call out to all children in the immediate area, some have names and others are simply called "girls" or even "kid" in one case. And from literary history, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer show up on a raft. How they suddenly got transported from the Mississippi River to off the coast of Florida, I'll leave up to your imagination. But what can the kids do? They bring various animals to try and help pull out Santa's sleigh, but none of them can do it. Usually while this is happening, Santa remains seated in his sleigh, the actor sweating under his fake beard and red suit. So what does Santa do next? Tells all the children the story of Thumbellina. And that's where the movie takes its most excruciating turn. For close to an hour, we're treated to that horrible story. We have a normal-looking girl surrounded by actors dressed in unconvincing frog, mole and some-kind-of insect suits. Oh, did I mention that the director mistook this for a musical?! Excuse me another moment... AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The songs are, quite frankly, awful! So once the Thumbellina padding, I mean sub-story, has ended we're left with the last ten minutes. At this point, I'm guessing the director realized he had to wrap this fiasco up. How will Santa possibly get out of his situation? Who could possibly help him? SIREN WAILS! What's that? Why, it's an old-time firetruck. And who's that onboard? Why, it's the Ice Cream Bunny with all the children! Yay, the other character who shares the title has finally arrived! As one of my friends put it, he's the Ice Cream Bunny Machina. How he helps Santa, I couldn't figure out. He just arrives, nods disturbingly for what seems like forever, and then Santa gets into the firetruck and they take off leaving the kids behind. Then the sleigh disappears. THE END. Please, please, please gentle viewer hear my plea. Avoid this movie if RiffTrax isn't doing it. However if RiffTrax has graced your presence, then Merry Christmas to you all and down some spiked eggnog for good measure!!!

KalosSkopeo ...but only for one reason: "Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny" (SICB) has the excuse of a small budget, no script, and some clown shoe named R. Winer, who apparently filmed this crummy kiddie flick to serve as an irrelevant wrap-around story for Barry Mahon's mind-numbing "Thumbelina" (1970).I was introduced to SICB in 1998 through a former beau, Jerry, and his brother, Mike, who worked at a video-rental store. A man who had rented it for his kids ranted to Mike at length about how awful it was and demanded a refund. Of course, Mike then had to see how bad it was for himself; and as misery loves company, he shared his experience with us.In this film, St. Nick (Jay Clark) is portrayed as a slovenly inebriate with possible incontinence issues--that's right! Check out the seat of Santa's pants when he gets out of his sleigh to help a girl hitch a sheep to it! They failed, by the way, which is not surprising considering the sleigh had a broken shaft and no harness! The Ice Cream Bunny is portrayed by an unemployable mall-Easter Bunny who brings children neither ice cream nor decorative eggs--just nightmares.The kids in this movie are portrayed by hapless, nameless victims--much like its audience. That said, like "Star Wars Holiday Special," anyone who appreciates bad taste should sit through it at least once.12/19/12 UPDATE: Just saw this with RiffTrax commentary--hilarious! For hearty laughs, I highly recommend it.