Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer (film)

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer is a 2000 Canadian-American animated Christmas special, directed by Phil Roman. The special first aired October 31, 2000 on The WB. It now airs on The CW (the successor to The WB) during the Christmas season. Since Warner Home Video distributed this special, Time Warner owns the copyrights. The title and plot are based on the novelty song of the same name.

Plot

The show begins by introducing Jake Spankenheimer, the main character, along with his family, most notably Grandma Spankenheimer, who owns a small general store in the town of Cityville. The store also happens to be the only piece of property not owned by Austin Bucks, the wealthiest man in town, whose company specializes in making Christmas easier and less involved for the town's overly busy residents. Grandma, however, tells Austin that his method of trying to make Christmas easier is not really for the best and refuses to sell. This runs afoul of the gold-digging Cousin Mel, who plans to sell the store anyway.

Jake loves the holiday season, as does his grandmother, though most of his family is not as excited about it. Jake and his older sister, Daphne, also quarrel over Santa Claus' existence, as Jake's parents gently try to break the news to him that Santa is not real. Meanwhile, Cousin Mel comes up with a plan to sabotage Grandma's famous fruit cake recipe, secretly adding a disgusting ingredient with hopes that they won't sell, forcing Grandma to sell the store to Austin Bucks. Grandma, who hadn't taken her medication that evening, then takes the fruit cakes and her other baked goods with her when she leaves the house on Christmas Eve night, but as she leaves Santa flies by overhead and his reindeer, suddenly out of control, crash into her. Jake sees out the window, but the family refuses to believe him. The next morning, however, Grandma is missing, and the police find an imprint of her in the snow, along with her belongings. Cousin Mel also finds a letter explaining what happened that she quickly hides from the others. However, no one can tell where Grandma is herself.

Almost a year passes without Grandma, and during this time, Cousin Mel comes up with a new plan to sell the store to Austin Bucks, by tricking Grandpa into giving her his power of attorney. She then plans to sell the store to Austin Bucks, but when Jake objects, Bucks agrees to give him another week in order to find Grandma before going through with the deal. Adamant in his belief that Santa ran over her, Jake e-mails Santa, and soon Quincy, Santa's head elf, comes to take Jake to the North Pole. It turns out that Santa had run over Grandma, but had then taken her back to his home for medical treatment. Unfortunately she now has amnesia, and until receiving Jake's e-mail Santa had been unsure of who she was. However, when Jake explains the situation back in Cityville, Santa, Quincy and the amnesiac Grandma agree to go with him to stop the deal.

When they arrive in Cityville, however, Cousin Mel and her attorney, I.M. Slime, quickly come up with a plan to kidnap Grandma, and after Santa explains to Austin Bucks what happened, Jake and Quincy discover that Grandma has gone missing again. Cousin Mel and I.M. Slime then accuse Santa of being behind her disappearance, and he is put on trial for kidnapping, leaving the scene of an accident and "sleighicular negligence." The two then plot to sue him, deducing that someone who can pay for billions of presents must be incredibly wealthy.

Jake becomes suspicious that Cousin Mel may have been involved in Grandma's second disappearance, and follow her to a cabin in the woods where she and I.M. Slime have been keeping Grandma. They rescue Grandma, and also find the piece of paper Cousin Mel had found at the site of Grandma's accident—a note from Santa explaining what had happened—and a vial of the ingredient Cousin Mel had added to Grandma's fruit cakes, which turned out to be "reindeer-nip". They then manage to restore Grandma's memory by feeding her some of her own famous fruit cake, and rush to the courthouse to prove that Cousin Mel had been behind everything that happened to Grandma. Confronted with the evidence, Cousin Mel is forced to confess everything she did, that she hid the note, made Grandpa sign his rights to the store to her, and that she plotted the trial. She's even made to confess that she hates the true meaning of Christmas and how everyone shares and cares. She is then placed under arrest and the judge lets Santa go. Austin Bucks then approaches Grandma again, this time offering to franchise her store throughout the country, having seen how much she and Jake care about their family and family business. Touched by this, Grandma agrees to the franchising.

The show ends with Grandma accidentally picking up the tainted fruit cake instead of her own recipe, with the result that Santa hits her again as he's trying to fly back to the North Pole. Grandpa and Jake pick her up; this time Grandma didn't suffer amnesia. Santa's sleigh takes off into the night with him saying the Spanish phrase for "Merry Christmas".

Characters

• Grandma Spankenheimer (voiced by Susan Blu) — Jake and Daphne's loving grandmother and Mr. Spankenheimer's mother who loves Christmas. Grandma is the owner of a general store in Cityville. Merchandise at the store includes ornaments, toys, and Grandma's infamous "Killer Fruitcake".
• Jake Spankenheimer (voiced by Alex Doduk) — The main protagonist of the film, Jake leads the search for Grandma when she mysteriously vanishes, and Grandma being hit by Santa's sleigh. A firm believer in Santa Claus, Jake proves his family wrong when he finds the real Santa Claus.
• Cousin Mel (voiced by Michele Lee) — The main antagonist of the film. Cousin Mel is a money grubbing do-badder who wears too much jewelry and beats Grandpa at cards. Cousin Mel is out to sell the store to the wealthy Austin Bucks, and makes Santa Claus the fall guy in a lawsuit over Grandma's disappearance so she can get all his money. Her partner in crime was her lawyer, I.M. Slime, who was also in on Mel's scheme.
• Grandpa Spankenheimer & The Narrator (both voiced by Elmo Shropshire) — Jake and Daphne's grandfather, Grandma's daffy husband and Mr. Spankenheimer's father. Grandpa accidentally gives Cousin Mel power of attourney, giving Cousin Mel the power to sell Spankenheimer's General Store to Austin Bucks. The narrator is adult Jake telling the story.
• Austin Bucks (voiced by Cam Clarke) — A monoplozing store tycoon that wants to buy the store from the Spankenheimers, but near the end of the special, decides instead of buying out the Spankenheimers, he decides to franchise the Spankenheimers' store which grandma eventually accepts. Differing somewhat from a usual theme, Bucks is not the villain - he is completely unaware of Cousin Mel's plots and, in fact, gives Jake ample opportunity to prove his story, despite not really believing it. He is a parody of Donald Trump.
• Santa Claus (voiced by Jim Staahl) — A jolly old man who delivers gifts around the world on Christmas Eve. Santa accidentally runs over Grandma with his reindeer-drawn sleigh, and takes her to his hospital at his North Pole workshop.
• Daphne Spankenheimer (voiced by Maggie Blue O'Hara) — Jake's older sister, Grandma and Grandpa's granddaughter and Mr. and Mrs. Spankenheimer's daughter. She has a boyfriend and marries him in part two of this film.
• Mr. Spankenheimer — Jake and Daphne's father and Grandma and Grandpa's son.
• Mrs. Spankenheimer (voiced by Venus Terzo) — Jake and Daphne's mother and Grandma and Grandpa's daughter-in law.
• I.M. Slime — Cousin Mel's money loving lawyer. Probably sent to prison with Mel.

Home media releases

Warner Home Video released Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer to VHS on October 31, 2000 and to DVD on October 16, 2001.

External links

• Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer from the Internet Movie Database
• SFM Entertainment page on the special-includes video clip