Christmas Is Here Again

Christmas Is Here Again is a 2007 American animated Christmas musical-comedy-fantasy-adventure film produced by Easy To Dream Productions, Renegade Animation, and 20th Century Fox Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The first feature film to be produced by Renegade Animation, it was co-written, co-produced and directed by Robert Zappia. Narrated by Jay Leno, the film features the voices of Edward Asner, Kathy Bates, Madison Davenport, Colin Ford, Brad Garrett, Andy Griffith, Shirley Jones, Norm Macdonald, and Daniel Roebuck, and marked Asner's fourth role in a Christmas-themed film after the 1977 film The Gathering, the 1999 film Olive, the Other Reindeer and the 2003 film Elf, though unlike the latter two films, he does not play Santa.

Christmas Is Here Again debuted at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis on October 20, 2007.

Synopsis
Sophiana, an orphan girl who carries a cane, due to being crippled from a car accident that killed her parents sets out to find Santa's toy sack (which is a magical source of toys since it was made from the baby Jesus' swaddling clothes), which was stolen thirty years previously by Krad ("dark" spelled backwards) in revenge after Santa stopped handing out Krad's coal to naughty children. She is helped in her quest by Paul Rocco, one of Santa's elves, Dart, a reindeer calf, Buster the fox, and his friend, Charlee the polar bear.

Cast

 * Madison Davenport as Sophiana, a disabled girl from an orphanage who's been bullied by Miss Dowdy and occasionally the other children. She was crippled due a car accident that took the lives of her biological parents, leading her to using a cane. She is later adopted by the Clauses.
 * Daniel Roebuck as Paul Rocco/Jacque
 * Colin Ford as Dart, Prancer's grandson
 * Norm Macdonald as Buster
 * Brad Garrett as Charlee
 * Ed Asner as Krad, the film's main villain. A former coal supplier who used to work for Santa Claus, until Santa decided to stop punishing children who were on his naughty list, leading Krad into stealing Santa's magic toy sack.
 * Michael Norris as the Selves
 * Kathy Bates as Miss Dowdy, the harsh assertive owner of the orphanage where Sophiana and other children live at, she has a more sympathetic personality near the end of the film.
 * Andy Griffith as Santa Claus, the husband of Victoria Claus/Mrs. Claus and later Sophiana's adoptive father
 * Shirley Jones as Victoria Claus, Santa's wife and later Sophiana's adoptive mother
 * Jay Leno as the Narrator
 * Randy Crenshaw/Bob Joyce/Sally Stevens/Susie Stevens Logan/Gary Stockdale/Carmen Twillie/Lauren Wood as Chorus

Production
Renegade Animation, an animation company located in Glendale, California and known for the TV series Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi and The Mr. Men Show, teamed up with Easy to Dream Entertainment to create Christmas Is Here Again. A small crew spent nine months on the principal animation, which was completed in mid-2006.

Later in 2006, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation announced that they had teamed with Renegade Animation to distribute the film through their 20th Century Fox Animation division.

One of the songs in the film's soundtrack (as well as the film's working title) was "Who Stole Santa's Sack?"

Awards
In 2008, it received an Annie Award nomination for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production (Madison Davenport as Sophiana). Additionally, in 2009, Christmas is Here Again was nominated for the Annie Award for Best Animated Home Entertainment Production. Colin Ford, the voice of Dart, was also nominated for a Young Artist Award in 2009 for Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role - Young Actor.

Home video
The film received its DVD debut in the U.S. on November 4, 2008. The disc contains a behind-the-scenes featurette, cast interviews and "Name the Reindeer", as extras.

Originally, the reindeer on the DVD cover had a red nose akin to Rudolph's. On the final version of the cover, it is black.

Reception
Richard Propes of The Independent Critic website gave it an A and 3.5 stars, calling it "an ideal choice for families, children and for Scrooges like myself who, somewhere deep inside, still want to believe". However Common Sense Media gave the film a 2 out of 5 saying "Small children might like this holiday musical, but they may also lose patience at the 73-minute length".

Stage version
The Pacific Conservatory Theatre presented the premiere of a stage adaptation of Christmas Is Here Again by Brad Carroll and Jeremy Mann in November and December 2014.