Line #42 Film/SantaAndTheIceCreamBunny


1	[[quoteright:202:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/santa_2998.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:202:Note: film only contains trace amounts of both Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny. Also, we're [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext just as confused by the Ice Cream Bunny as you are]].]]
3
4	-> ''"Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in 150+ movies, Podcast/RiffTrax [[StunnedSilence has nothing to say.]]"''
5	-->-- '''Rifftrax''''s reaction to this movie.
6
7	''Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny'' is a 1972 Christmas film directed by Barry Mahon and Richard Winer, starring Jay Clark as SantaClaus [[AmateurCast and "Kids" from Ruth Foreman's Pied Piper Playhouse]].
8
9	The intended purpose of the film was to exhibit it in one of the theater attractions at the Pirates World amusement park in Dania, Florida (near Miami), ostensibly to give children something to do for an hour while their parents took a break from them, and to advertise other attractions at the park. It would be totally forgotten today, except that the film is a NoBudget, slapdash affair that turns into an unintentional MindScrew of the highest order.
10
11	It begins with Santa and his sleigh getting stranded on a beach somewhere in Florida in inch-deep sand, his reindeer having flown back to the North Pole to cool off. Several kids (including [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn]]) try to help him out with a variety of farm animals (and a guy dressed in a gorilla suit!), but to no avail. Just when all hope is given up, Santa is reminded of the story of Literature/{{Thumbelina}} and starts telling it to the kids.
12
13	In other words, the Santa sequence was just a FramingDevice for a completely separate ''Thumbelina'' film, which takes up around two-thirds of the total runtime of ''Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny''. It's presented in its entirety, including the opening and closing credits, and the only connection to the Santa sequence is that it was also created by Pirates World as a matinee for kids, and was even shot at the park. But, as it turns out, ''Thumbelina'' itself uses a FramingDevice structure (putting this into full NestedStory territory), with a young woman (played by Shay Garner) listening to a version of the story illustrated by diorama models, leading into a musical presentation with full-size versions of the displays, in which Garner also plays Thumbelina.
14
15	After ''Thumbelina'' wraps up, we go back to Santa and the kids, and the titular Ice Cream Bunny finally makes an appearance, driving an old fire truck through Pirates World on his way to rescue Santa, though neither the character's name nor significance are ever explained.
16
17	Basically, the whole thing looks like what might've happened if Creator/DavidLynch tried to make a Christmas movie for kids on NoBudget. It's become a SoBadItsGood CultClassic, even getting the Podcast/RiffTrax treatment.
18
19	Oddly enough, depending on where the film was shown, certain prints replaced the Thumbelina segment with one based on "Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk", also shot at Pirates World, with Mitchell Poulos as the boy hero. There was no FramingDevice in ''Jack'', unlike ''Thumbelina''. Alas, neither version did much to help Pirates World, which struggled after Ride/WaltDisneyWorld opened and finally closed in 1973.
20
21	There ''were'' some genuinely reputable people involved with this movie. Barry Mahon, one of the directors, was actually a fugitive from the true story of ''Film/TheGreatEscape''. Ruth Foreman, on the other hand, was a well-respected figure in the South Florida theater scene for forty years, dying at age 81 in 1988, even having [[http://carbonellawards.org/special-awards/the-ruth-foreman-award/ an award named after her]] in 2000.
22
23	----
24	!!''Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny'' contains examples of:
25
26	* AdvertisedExtra: Despite being one of the two title characters and being featured prominently on the cover, as well as being talked about in the film's synopsis, the Ice Cream Bunny only appears near the very end of the film.
27	* AllMythsAreTrue: In addition to Santa and a fill-in for the Easter Bunny, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are real people.
28	* ApatheticCitizens: When the Elves learn that the Reindeer have returned but Santa hasn't, rather than do anything about it, they just get back to work. Not even some kind of investigation or magical communication device, or anything?
29	-->Fa la la la la\
30	We'll just have to work some more!
31	* ArtisticLicenseGeography: At the end the Ice Cream Bunny apparently drives Santa all the way from Florida to the North Pole (which, in reality, is in the middle of the Arctic Ocean). It's [[WildMassGuessing possible his firetruck can fly, but nothing in the movie even remotely hints at this]].
32	* BrokenAesop: Before and after the Thumbelina story, Santa repeatedly tells the kids they must never, ever give up...right after he's ''repeatedly'' given up trying to move the sleigh and swears up and down that nothing will work. Most glaringly, he gives up after trying to dig the sleigh out himself even though it's ''working'' (he clears about half of one of the runners in less than a minute).
33	* CanineCompanion: Rebel the dog.
34	* CoversAlwaysLie: The poster advertises this film as being "all new" and promises an "exciting rescue" by the Ice Cream Bunny, when in fact only about a third of the film is made up of new footage, and the "rescue" involves the Ice Cream Bunny giving Santa a ride home in his fire truck.
35	* DeusExMachina: It's strongly implied that the Bunny ''drives'' Santa to the North Pole on his fire truck. Santa's sled teleports back to the North Pole as a failsafe, should it and Santa ever be separated. (Of course, there's no explanation why that failsafe can't be implemented while Santa is ''in'' the sled.) Making it more ridiculous, just leaving the sleigh and going home by other means was the ''first thing'' the Kids suggested only for him to say he couldn't specifically because he had no way of getting it back home if he did so.
36	* DidntThinkThisThrough: One of the first attempts to get Santa's sleigh freed? Getting a ''gorilla'' to pull it loose.
37	-->'''[[Podcast/RiffTrax Mike]]''': [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Keep in mind...]] ''[[ThisIsGonnaSuck This]]'' [[ThisIsGonnaSuck was Plan]] ''[[ThisIsGonnaSuck A.]]''
38	* FilmingForEasyDub: Possibly the single worst example ever committed to film. It was obviously shot silent to keep the (non-existent) budget even lower and the dialogue was looped in later, and they kept the shots of the actors' mouths moving to a minimum. Like ''Film/TheBeastOfYuccaFlats'', but much worse. Yes, this film sailed below the standards set by ''Creator/ColemanFrancis''. A particularly bad bit occurs at the climax where we can clearly see the kids' mouths moving but don't hear any singing until after a few minutes. There's also Santa's "Woe is Me" song, where Santa singing is visually conveyed by him wagging his index fingers back and forth.
39	* ForcedMeme: It's obviously trying to promote the Ice Cream Bunny as a new lovable character for children, but it's not clear if the bunny was a pre-existing character from Pirates World or was a new character created for the film.
40	* FramingDevice: The whole bit with Santa was just one of these for "Literature/{{Thumbelina}}", along with the theme park for said segment.
41	* GreekChorus: [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer Tom and Huck]] are this [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools in theory]], as they sit in the bushes and observe the action from the outside. They don't actually contribute anything worthwhile to the story.
42	* HeatWave: "It's so ''hot!''"
43	* HorsingAround: The horse Santa and the kid attempt to maneuver into position is clearly unhappy and would probably have kicked the crap out of the actors if the take had lasted much longer.
44	* InformedAttribute: We're told that Rebel is a smart dog, which might be a bit easier to believe if he didn't drink out of muddy puddles and nearly get run over ''three times'' during the climatic "rescue" scene.
45	* InsistentTerminology: Santa doesn't let you forget about the '''predicament''' he's in.
46	--> '''Mike:''' Santa Claus: not a member of AAA.\
47	'''Kevin:''' Or AA for that matter, what with this [[DreadfulMusician drunken warbling]]
48	* JumpCut: Rebel gets out of the path of the fire truck via a really bad edit (presumably cutting out someone running into the shot to physically move the dog).
49	* KarmaHoudini: Santa tells the kids his reindeer [[DirtyCoward just abandoned him once they got too hot.]] Despite this, we see them back at the North Pole at the beginning, and the elves [[EasilyForgiven are completely blasé about what the reindeer did.]]
50	* KazoosMeanSilliness
51	** An [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended shot]] of Tom and Huck rowing their raft to the shore is set to a kazoo playing "Old Man River."
52	** A kazoo rendition of "Jingle Bells" plays briefly at the climax, and the Ice Cream Bunny kinda-sorta dances to it.
53	* KickTheDog: The entire plot of the movie is kicked off when Santa's reindeer get too hot, and ditch him in Florida.
54	* LastEpisodeNewCharacter: The Ice Cream Bunny doesn't appear until the climax to rescue Santa.
55	* LawyerFriendlyCameo: One of the toys the elves make in the opening scene is a cheap knockoff [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Snoopy]] doll.
56	* LensFlare: Used a few times in shots of the sun to illustrate Santa's complaints about how hot it is.
57	* MindScrew: To say that the movie has a tendency to be random, bizarre and nonsensical is an understatement.
58	* NestedStory: The "Thumbelina" short...which even has its own ''credits''. [[MindScrew Which in turn]] has a nested story of "Thumbelina" in with a story of a girl going to Pirates World. The "Jack and the Beanstalk" version is less so, since that film didn't have a kid going to Pirates World.
59	-->'''Kevin Murphy:''' (as a kid) Santa, why the clumsy framing device? Why?
60	* NeverTrustATitle: The titular Ice Cream Bunny doesn't show up until the last five minutes of the movie, and the majority of the movie is the "Thumbelina" story (or "Jack and the Beanstalk", depending on what version you're watching).
61	* NoEnding: The film doesn't end. It just sort of stops after the sleigh disappears from the beach.
62	* NoNameGiven: While summoning the kids, Santa calls each one out by name, except for the three girls jumping rope, to whom he simply calls out, "Girls!"
63	* NonIndicativeName:
64	** As pointed out below, no explanation is given for why he's called the Ice Cream Bunny. He's not made of ice cream, nor is he shown handing out or eating ice cream. He drives a firetruck instead of an ice cream truck. The filmmakers seem to have assumed that the Ice Cream Bunny was so well known that, like Santa, he required no introduction. This is apparent when Santa's reaction to seeing him come to the rescue is "The Ice Cream Bunny! Of course!"
65	** Pirates World as well. From what we see of it, there's nothing especially pirate-themed about it. No pirates appear in the movie.
66	* OneBookAuthor: The only feature film directorial credit for Richard Winer, who's credited as "R. Winer".
67	* OnlyInFlorida: Where else could a film like this be made? Or take place?
68	* OutOfCharacter: Instead of being [[Literature/TwasTheNightBeforeChristmas "chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf"]], this Santa is a rather skinny DramaQueen who spends most of the film whining.
69	* OutOfGenreExperience: From Santa's sleigh predicament to a cheap theme park adaptation of "Thumbelina" (or ''Jack and the Beanstalk'' depending on which version you watch).
70	* ParasolParachute: Near the beginning we see a kid ''jumping off a roof using a porch umbrella like a parachute''. Incredibly, he lands unharmed, and there isn't even a DontTryThisAtHome warning!
71	* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: The Ice Cream Bunny supplies no ice cream whatsoever. He drives a firetruck instead of an ice cream truck. And he apparently works at Pirates World.
72	* PlotHole: Early in the movie one kid asks why Santa doesn't try just taking a plane home. Santa replies if he did he would have no way to take his sleigh with him. This would be ''directly contradicted'' at the end where, after the ice cream bunny rescues him in a ''firetruck'' and takes him back home, his sleigh magically teleports back to the North Pole with him. (It also raises the question of how the Bunny supposedly ''drove'' him all the way to the North Pole, unless his firetruck can also fly.)
73	* PowerfulButIncompetent: Santa Claus is, well, ''Santa Claus''. The guy can fly around the world and deliver billions of presents on a single day, but he can't get his sleigh out of not-very-deep sand, frequently gives up after putting hardly any effort into freeing the sleigh, goes through a poorly-thought-out plan to get animals to pull it from the sand, and ultimately has to rely on children and an odd oversized bunny to rescue him.
74	* ProductPlacement: For Pirates World theme park. The internal evidence suggests this film was created to double-dip off pre-existing movies previously funded by the park's owners for the kiddie matinée circuit. If you sense desperation, it's because Disney opened [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Walt Disney World]] the year before. A year after the film was released, Pirates World was bankrupt. By 1975, the place was closed. Not long after, the park was razed and condos built in its place.
75	* PsychicPowers: Santa seemingly uses telepathy to call out to the kids, which is shown in the most bizarre way possible: first we see the kids playing and doing other activities, each kid (or group of kids in a few shots) is shown for a few seconds before we freeze-frame and cut to another. After cutting back to Santa, we show the kids (still frozen) with Santa's echoey psychic voice calling their names, at which point they unfreeze and run to him in slow motion.
76	* PublicDomainCharacter: Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, who serve no purpose to the plot other than extra {{Padding}}. SantaClaus himself, as well.
77	* RememberTheNewGuy: "My old friend, the Ice Cream Bunny!"
78	* RiddleForTheAges: Just who was this Ice Cream Bunny character? More than a decade's worth of sleuthing by curious viewers since this movie resurfaced has failed to establish a definitive answer. Best guess is that he/she/it was a character at Pirates World, perhaps a mascot for an in-park ice cream parlor. There are [[http://www.igrewupin.com/wp-content/uploads/rtMedia/groups/21/2014/09/RobinRonnie.jpg?1616101782 existing photos]] of similar characters in similarly ratty-looking [[GoofySuit Goofy Suits]] at [[http://www.igrewupin.com/groups/pirates-world-dania-fla/ Pirates World]].
79	* SavingChristmas: Santa is stuck in Florida, and according to the calendar he presents at the end of the film, there are only five days until Christmas.
80	* ScareQuotes: ''Starring JAY CLARK as SANTA, and "KIDS" from RUTH FOREMAN'S PIED PIPER PLAYHOUSE'', implying that whoever did the opening titles was skeptical of their ages or acting ability.
81	* SerialEscalation: ''[[InvertedTrope Inverted]]'', and then generally played with oddly. The very first animal brought in to try and move the sleigh is a gorilla (suit-wearing man), followed by a mule, a pig, and then a sheep...[[OverlyLongGag then a cow...]]
82	* SomewhereAnEquestrianIsCrying: Santa attempts to use a horse to pull his sleigh without any reins, tack, or means of connecting it to the sleigh. The horse is visibly not pleased to be in the film.
83	* TheSpeechless: The Ice Cream Bunny doesn't seem to be able to talk.
84	* StockFootage: One of the elves peers outside the workshop to view a clip of some reindeer on a ''green'' landscape of the North Pole.
85	-->'''[[Podcast/RiffTrax Mike Nelson]]''': Crap, it's July! We missed Christmas!
86	* StopTrick: The sleigh's disappearance at the end of the film.
87	* ThoseTwoGuys: Tom and Huck, who were just paddling around in a lake when they hear the commotion of the kids being summoned by Santa. They swim to shore and run after the group, then spend the rest of the movie standing behind a bush watching everything unfold without getting involved.
88	* TooDumbToLive: Even though Santa is really hot (and keeps whining about it), he doesn't think to just take off his heavy coat until near the end. Even after he does he immediately puts it back on when he hears the firetruck coming and says that people "Can't see Santa without his coat"(?), with zero explanation for why this should be the case.
89	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: During the climax, the Ice Cream Bunny drives through the Pirates World theme park, and the people at the park pay no mind to an anthropomorphic rabbit driving through in an antique fire truck carrying kids and a dog.
90	* VoodooShark: The movie "explains" how one of the kids got the idea to call the Ice Cream Bunny to help Santa by having him say that his '''dog''' Rebel thought of it! Needless to say, it would be a lot more plausible to just say the kid thought of it, adding some kind of HandWave for how he knows who the Ice Cream Bunny is if necessary.
91	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
92	** Tom and Huck initially appear with a raccoon on a leash, but it disappears from their later scenes.
93	** Tom and Huck themselves only appear for two scenes: one where they are in the raft with the aforementioned raccoon, and another where, after they get to shore, they just stand there expressing shock that Santa is there. After this, they seemingly just cease to exist, and don't even join the other kids in trying to help Santa.
94	** The kids get a bunch of random animals to try to pull Santa's sleigh, including a ''gorilla'' none of which prove suitable. We never find out what happened to the animals after, so does that mean there's a gorilla just wandering around somewhere in Florida? ([[OnlyInFlorida Which, honestly, wouldn't surprise anyone.]])
95	* WithFriendsLikeThese: At the beginning we see some elves at the North Pole learn that Santa has gone missing. Despite this, they just keep working and don't bother calling for help. Even worse, it's explicitly stated that after Santa crash-landed, all of his reindeer [[DirtyCoward just abandoned him.]]
96
97	!!The "Thumbelina" adaptation contains examples of:
98
99	* AdaptationSpeciesChange: The field mouse from the original story becomes a female mole, presumably so she could have her own happy ending with Mr. Digger.
100	* AdaptationalNiceGirl: A mild case with Thumbelina, who wasn't really nasty as such in the original story, but had far more of a NoJustNoReaction to Mr. Digger's proposal, and was even a little disgusted by the thought of marrying someone who lived their whole life under the ground. By contrast, this version of Thumbelina is only bothered by the fact that Mr. Digger is being too pushy for her liking.
101	* AmusementParkOfDoom: Pirates World was largely comprised of rides purchased from other amusement parks and attractions, including the 1964 World's Fair in New York. The combination of the rides not being in mint condition, and the laxity of safety standards in that era, gives Pirates World an unintentional vibe of this in the park footage. Especially that steeplechase ride -- No safety belts, plenty of sudden turns, and dangerously fast. Have fun, kiddies!
102	* AndYouWereThere: The flower prince is played by the same actor as the young girl's boyfriend?
103	* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Thumbelina's dress never gets messed up, even during many months spent in the outdoors. Her hair is always flawlessly combed.
104	* BreakingTheFourthWall:
105	** When Thumbelina is lost in the woods, she starts singing, "Fiddle-dee-dee!" She explains through the song that it's her way to cope with frightening situations, and advises to "give it a try and you’ll agree".
106	** The frog, apparently alone, explains his entire back story while looking directly at the camera (probably, it's hard to tell since his eyes are part of a mask). One can only assume he's speaking to the audience.
107	* CartoonCreature: Thumbelina gets accosted by some weird bug-like creatures at one point, and it's never stated what they are supposed to be exactly. Going by the original story, they are probably meant to be stag beetles, except they are wearing swimming trunks for some reason.
108	* DelayedNarratorIntroduction: The narrator from the drive thru-looking speaker in the exhibit throughout the film is actually Mrs. Mole, who lets Thumbelina into her home during the winter.
109	-->'''Bill Corbett (as a kid):''' W-W-W-Wait, wait, the lady talking on the loudspeaker is a ground-dwelling animal of some sort? Santa, what the hell's going on here?!\
110	'''Kevin (as Santa)''': Enough questions! Guy in the gorilla suit, shut that kid up, will ya?
111	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: The witch certainly needs to reiterate the price of her services after singing about it for five minutes!
112	* DullSurprise: Thumbelina, who reacts to everything as though she's been drugged and isn't sure if what she's seeing is real or not.
113	* FourthDateMarriage: Thumbelina protests marrying a frog and Mr. Digger because they've only known each other for a day, but then has no problem with immediately marrying the flower prince. Sure, there's species to consider, but species is barely even brought up. Her main reason for agreeing to marry the flower prince seems to be that he wasn't as pushy as her other suitors.
114	* FramingDevice: ''Thumbelina'' tacks on ''another'' framing device of the main actress gazing at dioramas while the ragged loudspeaker narrates.
115	* HappilyEverAfter: Lives happily ever after with the flower prince and sings a song about living happily ever after, too.
116	* InformedAttractiveness: Thumbelina is implied to be absolutely perfect in all but size. Shay Garner, while pretty in a GirlNextDoor way, isn't exactly a knockout; her vacant eyes and large eyebrows are her most distinctive facial features. However, she makes up for it with some nice {{Fanservice}}, via not wearing a bra and wearing a skirt that [[LegFocus shows off her long legs]].
117	* IWantSong: Thumbelina's "Flower Child" song, in which she expresses her desire to enjoy the outside world which her marriage to Mr. Digger will deny her.
118	* LegFocus: Besides going braless, Shay Garner's ParentService also involves plenty of leg. She wears a miniskirt in the amusement park scenes and her Thumbelina skirt stops way short of her knees.
119	* MayDecemberRomance: In the loosest sense of "romance" possible. Mr. Digger convinces Thumbelina that it would be in her best interests to marry him, and she goes along with it for a while. Her main concern is that he's old. The fact that he's a mole doesn't seem to enter into it. She does express concern that in marrying him, she'll have to remain underground and never see the sun again.
120	* MindScrew: Given the {{Acting For Two}} above, you've got to wonder if the girl listening to the story is hearing her own voice whenever Thumbelina talks.
121	* NestedStory: The Thumbelina segment is a woman listening to Thumbelina's story.
122	* PairTheSpares: After Thumbelina doesn't go through with marrying Mr. Digger, he settles on Mrs. Mole instead.
123	* ProductPlacement: The first five minutes or so are just shots of the girl wandering around Pirates World, highlighting various rides at the park.
124	* RecapEpisode: Utilized in the ending for some reason other than more padding.
125	* ShowDontTell: [[AvertedTrope Averted]], as crucial story moments are skipped over [[{{Infodump}} and described by the narrator or characters]].
126	* StockFootage: Whenever the film is going to describe something that would be too expensive to film, it cuts to the girl at the exhibit listening and tilting her head.
127	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Thumbelina's Mother explains that she'll see the Witch, to bring her a little girl, in a manner as casual as saying that she's going to the Market, to pick up some milk!
128	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: It's never stated what happened to Thumbelina's mother after her kidnapping. The last we see of her, she's grieving over the kidnapping of her daughter.
129	--> '''The Speaker:''' When Thumbelina's poor mother found that her little girl had disappeared, she was very sad...\
130	'''Bill:''' So sad, in fact, that she [[HereWeGoAgain went back to the witch]] with a wad of cash and said "Cook me up a good one this time, Toots!"
131
132	!! The ''Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk'' adaptation contains examples of:
133	* EasilyForgiven: Honest John cons several townsfolk out of money, but he's still invited to join the crown in the final song without any comeuppance. Especially odd since the previous scene in the town was his victims comparing notes and organizing a lynch mob.
134	* FridgeLogic: InUniverse, one of Honest John's customers asks why he's selling magic beans for so cheap if they're able to help people get rich.[[note]]Oddly enough she fails to even ask why ''he'' isn't using them to get rich.[[/note]]
135	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The giant hits his head against his own trap and knocks himself out after spotting Jack running away with the magic harp.
136	* HonestJohnsDealership: The cow/bean salesman literally goes by the name Honest John.
137	* JabbaTableManners: The giant, to the point where his wife can't stand to eat around him.
138	--> '''Bill:''' Woman! There's another darn metal thing in the way of my hand scooping!
139	* KarmaHoudini: Honest John gets no punishment for being an unrepentant con man.
140	* NoIndoorVoice: The giant.
141	* SpotlightStealingSquad: The giant is such a LargeHam that he ends up being the most memorable character.
142	* {{Squick}}: InUniverse, the giant's wife loses her appetite upon watching the giant eat "creepy crawlies."
143	* TimeSkip: It's implied that Jack's trips to the giant's castle take far longer than portrayed. Jack's sister even apparently got married during his final ascent.
144

Context Film / SantaAndTheIceCreamBunny