Santa's Christmas Crash is an Animated Short Film by Henri Heidsieck, based on the children's book Santa and the Desert Children by Jacques Venuleth.
It's Christmas Eve, and Santa Claus is making the rounds. However, there's a terrible storm out that night, and Santa picked the absolute worst time to daydream while driving the sleigh. He ends up losing the presents over a mountain, and makes a nasty crash landing in a desert. With no presents and no sleigh, what's Santa Claus to do?
Well, luckily, the local kids find him. So he enlists their help in getting his sled up and running and replacing the lost Christmas presents so he can get back on track.
The film was released on September the 1st, 1995.
Santa's Christmas Crash contains examples of:
- Civilized Animal: Santa's reindeer, Romuald and Joe. They both wear Christmas sweaters, speak English, and at the start, Romuald is standing on his hind legs at the stove, stirring in a pot.
- In the Hood: Santa's desert robe has a hood, which he puts over his head to protect it from the storm.
- "No Peeking!" Request: Santa asks Romuald and the desert boy to turn around so he can change into the desert robes he's offered. Rimuald takes the time to correct the boy that he's a reindeer. Then a bunch of people on the horizon laugh at Santa in his underwear.
- Santa Claus: The Protagonist. He needs help getting back on track after crashing in the desert.
- Santa's Existence Clause: Tommy doesn't believe in Santa Claus, despite his sister's insistence otherwise. Then he sees Santa working late in clothes he isn't normally known for wearing.
- Snake Charmer: One of the desert kids plays a flute to show off the snake in the basket Santa is holding. Santa immediately rejects it as a gift for kids on the grounds the parents might object.
- Tightrope Walking: When Santa finally reaches the city, one thing he does is walk from roof to roof on Christmas lights.
