Annabelle's Wish

Annabelle's Wish is a 1997 American direct-to-video animated Christmas film that revolves around a young calf who aspires to fly and become one of Santa Claus' reindeer. Narrated by American country singer Randy Travis (David Holt in the UK), it also stars voice actress Kath Soucie as the voice of Annabelle. Ralph Edwards Films released the film to video on October 21, 1997, followed by a television broadcast later that year on Fox.

Plot
Annabelle, a calf, is born on Christmas Eve in the rural farming community of Twobridge, Tennessee. Upon meeting Santa Claus, who gives the animals a speaking voice for just one day, she becomes fascinated with his reindeer and their ability to fly, and wishes to fly herself.

Having been granted the temporary ability to speak, she befriends farmer Charles Baker's grandson, Billy, who is mute from inhaling smoke from a barn fire. Billy's mean Aunt Agnes, the sister of Billy's late father, arrives from the city. Charles despises Agnes and the two get into an argument about Billy's well being, with Charles pointing out that Agnes does not want custody of her nephew after his parents passed away, but she reconsidered, mostly in order to have a "perfect Christmas". Charles refuses to give up Billy, but Agnes threatens legal action against him. Meanwhile, Annabelle accidentally reveals her ability to speak; since Billy himself cannot speak, their secret is safe. They go sledding with Billy's friend Emily and accidentally crash into the fence of Gus Holder, the neighbor of Charles. Knowing that Charles cannot pay for the damages to the fence, Gus takes Annabelle until Charles can raise the money, which he does by selling an old music box that belonged to Billy's mother and his late daughter, Sarah.

The next winter, Gus' sons, Bucky and Buster, harass Emily and Billy one day after school. When the harassment becomes physical, Annabelle retaliates by knocking them down. The boys lie about the incident to their father who calls the sheriff, but he had received an eyewitness statement from the school bus driver. Gus sends his sons to their room and the sheriff talks to him about how his Scrooge-like behavior has affected his sons. The sheriff tells Gus that Charles had to sell his daughter's music box to an antique dealer in town in order to pay for both the damages to his fence and to get Annabelle back. Gus starts to feel guilty about what he did to both Charles and Billy after the sheriff reminds him about what it's like to lose a loved one.

Agnes' lawyer later finds a loophole that would grant her custody: Billy can only stay with her if he remains mute. When Agnes returns to Charles' farm to bring Billy back to her home, the animals push her car into a ditch to stall for time. As a result, she has to stay on the farm overnight on Christmas Eve to troubleshoot her car. That night, Santa comes and Annabelle asks him to permanently give her Christmas voice to Billy. Touched by her selflessness, he agrees.

The next morning, Billy finds a present and upon opening it, magically gets his voice back. This renders Agnes' custody order void, allowing Billy to stay with Charles. Billy shows Annabelle his ability to speak, and is touched to discover that she gave up her voice for him and that hearing him speak again was her true wish. Gus, Bucky, and Buster arrive and apologize for their behavior. Gus reveals that he bought the music box from the antique shop and gives it to Charles. Agnes and Gus then become acquainted. The narrator implies that the two later marry and Agnes became a step-mother to Gus's two sons.

Years later, Billy (who reveals himself to be the narrator) and Emily have gotten married, and now own the farm. One Christmas Eve, Annabelle, having grown old and weary, walks over to a frozen pond and lays down, exhausted. Santa Claus arrives to fulfill her true wish (a wish from Billy) and she becomes a young reindeer and is given her voice back. She flies away at Santa's lead and bids Billy goodbye and a Merry Christmas.

Cast

 * Kath Soucie as Annabelle (both young calf and adult reindeer)
 * Hari Oziol as young Billy
 * Randy Travis as Narrator (US)/adult Billy
 * David Holt as the Narrator (UK)
 * Jerry Van Dyke as Grandpa Charles Baker
 * Cloris Leachman as Aunt Agnes
 * Jim Varney as Gus Holder
 * Charlie Cronin as Bucky Holder
 * James Lafferty as Buster Holder
 * Aria Curzon as young Emily
 * Beth Nielsen Chapman as adult Emily
 * Kay E. Kuter as Santa Claus
 * Jennifer Darling as Star
 * Rue McClanahan as Scarlett
 * Jerry Houser as Slim
 * Steve Mackall as Owliver
 * Brian Cummings as Brewster
 * Mary Kay Bergman and Tress MacNeille as the hens
 * Jay Johnson as Ears
 * Clancy Brown as the town sheriff and the lawyer
 * Stu Rosen as Doc Taylor
 * Tress MacNeille, Alison Krauss, and Frank Welker provided additional voices.

Production
The film is based on the book "Clarabell the Christmas Cow" by Dan Henderson first published in 1976. Annabelle’s deciding not to ask her wish to fly but instead giving up her talking voice for Billy and not expecting anything in return gives the title of Annabelle’s Wish a double meaning.

Music
The film's score was by Steve Dorff, who also wrote the film's songs with John Bettis and Travis. The songs were performed by Randy Travis, Alison Krauss, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Dolly Parton, Kevin Sharp, and Nanci Griffith.

Release
Annabelle's Wish was released by Ralph Edwards Productions on October 21, 1997, and was the first film created by Ralph Edwards Films to be released. The film later aired on Fox on November 30, 1997.

Reception and legacy
The special received mixed reviews from critics. Lynne Heffley of the Los Angeles Times praised Holt's Narration and Travis' score and songs, and the film's "gentle message of selfless love". Andrea Higbie of The New York Times referred to the character of Agnes as the film's version of Cruella de Vil, and wrote that the film would appeal to young viewers but that "its narcissistic dysfunction angle ("If Aunt Agnes doesn't love Billy, why does she want to take him away from Grandpa?") will leave them wishing for a villainess who simply has fur coats on her mind," in reference to de Vil. Reviewing the DVD release, myReviewer.com noted it is a "undemanding tale. There are gaping holes in the plot only unnoticed by the very young and the characters are bland, the animation is dull but the songs are pleasant enough. What I`m trying to say is it may keep young children pacified whilst waiting for Christmas Eve. It passes an hour and will leave you with a tear in your eye if you are not completely cynical. However it is no great advance on the cinematic art and will soon be discarded for more sophisticated offerings".

When the film premiered on Fox, it was the highest-rated television program among children between the ages of two and five. Annabelle's Wish was also among the top-five best-selling videos during November and December 1997,    and was Hallmark Home Entertainment's best-selling video as of January 1998. A portion of the video sale revenues were donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.