Glisten and the Merry Mission (2023)

3 Stars (out of 4)

Ready, Teddy, Go!

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

It's not exactly smooth — it smacks of a limited budget or a rushed production — but this animated Christmas movie for children is nonetheless sweetly charming, adorably silly, and full of good cheer.

Young elf Marzipan (voiced by Trinity Bliss) and her dog Lula are playing near the Christmas Village in the North Pole, when they spot a strange glowing thing. They try to follow it, but lose sight of it. Meanwhile, Marzipan's mother, Cinnameg (voiced by Julia Michaels) is an assistant elf manager in Santa's toy workshop. She realizes that production is way down, and not every child will receive a toy on Christmas morning.

Learning that the glowy thing may indeed be the magical stardust reindeer called Glisten, Marzipan begins a potentially dangerous mission to find her. And Cinnameg cooks up a plan to mass-manufacture a single toy that every kid will love. But when Christmas Eve arrives, more problems arise, and only Glisten can save the day… if she really exists. Marzipan must believe with all her heart.

Glisten and the Merry Mission appears to be hand-drawn, possibly with some computer assist, and even if the characters are a little stiff and not quite fluid, they're all effortlessly likable. The voice cast likewise sounds a little uneven, but still manage to make things work. Freddie Prinze Jr. adopts a wild Southern accent for his elf manager character, Michael Rapaport brings some "New Yawk" street cred to his grizzly bear character ("capiche?"), Billy Ray Cyrus gives Donner the reindeer's voice a low, gruff, rumble, and Dionne Warwick adds a touch of class as a wise storyteller. (Chevy Chase brings back memories of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation in his rendition of jolly old Santa Claus.)

Funny stuff includes scenes of Santa's reindeer, who have modernized and occupy a high-tech command center, complete with charts and graphs and intercoms. It all adds up to a story that, while borrowing bits and pieces from movies like Elf, comes across as modest, and nicely upbeat. Made in collaboration with the Build-a-Bear Workshop toy chain, Glisten and the Merry Mission never actually mentions the brand (except during the opening and closing credits), but it could still inspire kids to covet Teddy Bears for their holiday gifts.