REINDEER IN HERE

REINDEER IN HERE, a CBS Christmas special now streaming on Paramount+, is a fun, child-friendly animated adventure, which sadly, but not unexpectedly, has very little to do with the true meaning of Christmas. Blizzard, or Blizz (Adam Devine), as his friends call him, is a reindeer who doesn’t seem to fit. His inventions don’t seem to work, his gifts are overlooked, and his antlers are askew. However, when Santa’s magical snowglobe, which Santa uses to access the wishes of the world’s children, is stolen, Blizz jumps in to save the day. Along the way, he meets Theo, a young boy who also has a hard time fitting in and describes himself as “weird.” Together, they set out to discover the mystery of the snowglobe theft and return it to Santa so that Santa’s Christmas can proceed as usual. Can Blizz and Theo save Santa’s Christmas?

REINDEER IN HERE has likable characters, a fun story and fairly decent writing with only a few corny lines thrown in once in a while, such as “Whoa! That decked my halls.” There is some wit involved, such as Theo’s hidden gift for impressions, specifically his Puppet, The Fonz (voiced by Henry Winkler). However, the movie’s main message, which Blizz and Theo encapsulate well in the statements, “Don’t hide what makes you unique,” and “What’s wrong with weird,” is a double-edged sword. It can be interpreted biblically as encouragement to use one’s God-given gifts, or unbiblically in urging “you do you” and following any path you wish, no matter how unsound it may be. This leads to the major, but not unexpected, failing of REINDEER IN HERE, that it has really nothing to do with the true meaning of Christmas or the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Instead, REINDEER IN HERE is steeped in all the materialistic, secular, mass marketed “holiday” traditions. It’s all about Santa, elves and toys, without a single explicit or implicit reference to the biblical Nativity Story that made the present day distortion of a commercialized “Christmas” possible. There is plenty of talk about gifts here, but nothing about the ultimate gift of Jesus Christ, or even the gifts of the magi in the Nativity Story. Media-wise viewers might recall the 1996 VeggieTales special, THE TOY THAT SAVED CHRISTMAS, to see the way in which REINDEER IN HERE is found wanting. Thankfully, though, REINDEER IN HERE is otherwise pretty wholesome. There’s no foul language, off-color content, alcohol use, or woke messages. A young boy is interested in a young girl, but there is no offensive romantic content. A few run ins with some robots offers some mild peril. Also, a dark robed and hooded villain may scare the very young. So, REINDEER IN HERE offers a clean choice for families. However, its secular, Santa-centric presentation of Christmas warrants caution for children.