Christmas-Reviewer BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 300 HOLIDAY FILMS & SPECIALS. I HAVE NO AGENDA.Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey is a 1977 Christmas stop motion animated television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. The production is first rate. The story moves along and it was made by Rankin-Bass. However beware Nestor's mother dies and its very sad. I would not allow a child under 5 to watch.Of all the Christmas animation special that Rankin Bass made this is one of the better ones.

Scarecrow-88 Roger Miller's vocal narration and singing makes "Nestor…" a real treat! This Rankin & Bass stop motion animation special is short and sweet. It is a Christian-themed story, though, so be warned if you have no interest in such themes as the travel of Mary (carrying Jesus) and Joseph to Bethlehem with help from a disregarded, mistreated, put-upon, victimized long-eared donkey named Nestor, and an angel sent by God to encourage Nestor's journey towards Bethlehem on an important mission. The story is told by a donkey that does chores and helps out the elves for Santa while the reindeer and Ole Saint Nick take off to spread gifts to kids everywhere on Christmas Eve. Nestor was born into a bad situation, improperly abused verbally and physically by his brutish owner (with a wolf that laughs at Nestor's mistreatment), while his mother tries to keep him fed and safe as much as possible. When Roman soldiers demand animals to help their empire, Nestor is used as bait but his long ears enrage them (the owner put socks on the donkey's ears to try and trick them!). Not getting paid anything for his attempted deceit, the owner gets rid of Nestor, hurling him into the cold, wintry night to die. In her efforts to protect Nestor, his mother perishes as the snow covers her. Nestor is alone and left to fend for himself, until an angel (voiced by Brenda Vaccaro) arrives to provide him with details on a mission he is to perform for God…the donkey will earn a respect and adoration from the very animals that tormented and ridiculed him.Again, there's a very Christian presence throughout the television special but I do think the message of "rebounding from alienation and bullying because you are different than others" is universal. I think anyone who has ever felt inadequate or different, considered insignificant or ugly, could very well feel a kinship with Nestor. That he is accepted when it is confirmed that Nestor isn't worthless (God saw significance in Nestor, why shouldn't others?) provides a lesson in not judging book by its cover…we all have a chance, regardless of what we look like and despite the handicaps we might have, to be something special. Celebrated voice artist, Paul Frees, is the vocals for the nasty owner of Nestor and the cruel donkey dealer Joseph and Mary receive Nestor.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) This is one of my favorite Christmas television specials and it was made by the fairly famous Ranking and Bass almost 40 years ago. I am not religious at all, so the story is fine to me, but it does not leave a massive impact. The first reason why I love this so much is the main character. Nestor is really just as cute as it gets and I have always had a soft spot for donkeys. It's so much fun to watch this because he is in basically every single scene. And secondly, it's the music. Roger Miller adds a pretty unique touch with his singing here and it elevates the film a lot. I love his voice and it fits the tone of the film perfectly, be it the sad or the great moments. Shame on the other animals for bullying Nestor because of his rabbit ears. I felt they made him even much cuter than he already was. And there is some decent comedy in here as well, even if it's not immediately obvious. I found the scene hilarious at the end when Nestor uses his ears to ski down to the other animals. I saw this one here is actually a sequel to two Little Drummer Boy specials, but you don't need to watch them to enjoy this one here. In any case I enjoyed this animated Nestor movie a lot and highly recommend watching it.

ann_outsider For those of you who have never seen this show, please try to find it on DVD. I bought my favorite Rankin/Bass Christmas shows on DVD this year. I was very pleasantly surprised to find this favorite from my childhood on the same DVD as "A Year Without a Santa Claus" (another real fave of mine).Sure, there are some sappy moments in Nestor, but the story is very touching and heart-warming. I wish there were more Christmas shows on television brave enough to acknowledge the birth of our lord and savior Jesus Christ as the reason for the season.And a short response to another poster about the blizzards in Rome... the beginning of the story sets it in Europe during the Roman rule and occupation... the cherub then guides Nestor over a long period of time to a stable closer to Bethlehem. As a child I never picked up on Nestor having to wait for a while to go to Bethlehem, but seeing it as an adult it touched me that we all at times have to wait for our opportunity to serve in some way and it might not come when we want it to, but when our Father does. But I digress.... a great Christmas treat!