Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice

Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice is an American animated television special, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, and directed by Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers-Skelton. It aired on December 5, 2011, on the ABC TV channel. The special is the second half-hour Christmas special, and the fourth short film in the Prep & Landing series, after Prep & Landing, Tiny's BIG Adventure, and Operation: Secret Santa. A new half-hour special, Prep & Landing: The Snowball Protocol, is set to release in 2025.

Plot
The beginning of the special introduces the Coal Elf Brigade, a special unit of Christmas elves responsible for delivering lumps of coal to naughty children. While seeming cruel to some, the brigade adds small, encouraging notes in an attempt to steer the children back to the nice list.

With Christmas Day approaching, Wayne and Lanny race to recover classified North Pole technology that has fallen into the hands of a hacker identified only as "jinglesmell1337". Desperate to prevent Christmas from descending into chaos, Wayne seeks out his younger brother Noel, an expert in naughty children and member of the Coal Elf Brigade. Reluctant to take Noel along with him, Wayne relents, and Noel joins the Prep & Landing team on the mission. During the trip, Noel and Wayne reminisce about their childhood, when they worked together far better than they do now. As the trio arrives at the hacker's house, Wayne sets off a booby trap, imperiling the entire team; Noel manages to defend himself, Wayne takes a particular beating from the trap's various mechanisms, and Lanny makes it into the hacker's room, only to be captured.

The hacker then reveals herself to be Grace Goodwin. Her mission is to get herself off the naughty list, believing that she had been set up by her toddler brother, Gabriel, who had destroyed her favorite toy and ruined her chances to ask Santa for a new one by his crying. After Lanny suggests using the "magic word" to get the password for the device that will get her off the list, she does just that: using the word "please" as the password, since genuinely naughty kids never say "please". At first, she appears successful in changing her status from naughty to nice, but the device malfunctions, threatening to place the entire planet on the naughty list unless she and the team can pull off a risky operation to fix the problem.

Meanwhile, Wayne is particularly bitter at being "shown up" by his younger brother, prompting a fight in the street in front of Grace's house. Noel throws what he had intended to give Wayne as a Christmas present at him. The gift—a toy sled that Wayne had wanted as a kid but was never able to get—prompts Wayne to reconcile with Noel and carry out the mission. Grace, watching the whole argument as it unfolds, learns a powerful lesson and a newfound appreciation for her younger brother.

Wayne then receives a call from Magee who tells him that the device is causing bigger problems by transferring every child to the naughty list. Wayne tells them that the antenna on Conduct Calculator is broken. Mr. Thistleton tells him to fix it and attach it to a powerful antenna to reverse the damage. Grace realizes that this is all her fault and apologizes for being naughty. As Noel and Wayne climb up the building, all the presents are sucked up into the tube as the tree farm progresses on transferring every child onto the naughty list. Once Wayne and Noel reach the top, they realize that they cannot go near the antenna due to electric hazards, so they work together to launch the calculator to it, causing the satellite to go back to normal as all the presents get dropped back into Santa's sack.

The next morning, Gabriel gives Grace her new Christmas present; a replacement toy for the one he had destroyed a year prior. Meanwhile, back at the North Pole, Wayne and Noel both win the title of "Elves of the Year" for their efforts and cooperation.

Cast

 * Dave Foley as Wayne
 * Derek Richardson as Lanny
 * Sarah Chalke as Magee
 * Rob Riggle as Noel
 * Chris Parnell as Mr. Thistleton
 * W. Morgan Sheppard as 'The Big Guy' Santa Claus
 * Emily Alyn Lind as Grace Goodwin
 * Hayes MacArthur as Thrasher
 * Phil LaMarr as Crumbles
 * Christopher Harrison as Gene the Salesman
 * Grace Potter as Carol
 * Kevin Deters as Hop With Me Bunny

Release
The special was released on DVD and Blu-ray of Prep & Landing: Totally Tinsel Collection on November 6, 2012, together with Prep & Landing, Operation: Secret Santa, and Tiny's BIG Adventure. The 3D version of the special is being screened at the Muppet*Vision 3D theatre at Disney California Adventure in Anaheim, CA.

Awards
On December 5, 2011, on the day of its first broadcast, Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice was nominated for eleven Annie Awards in seven categories by the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood. It won four awards, one for character animation, character design, music and storyboarding.