History YMMV / TheChristmasTree

* BrokenAesop: Oh, so broken. The very bad and tacked-on "you always win when you are good" line is disproved ''by the movie's events themselves.'' From what we see of the orphans, they are well-behaved and nice to each other, yet are abused emotionally and physically by Mrs. Mavilda, so how can that aesop be accurate? Judy is also a good mother (well, when she's not saying selfish things like her out-of-character moment under ItsAllAboutMe), and yet she is forced into working for an evil woman, and her children are subject to the same abuse as the other orphans. Plus, consider how Lily nearly dies during their search for Santa and she's just as good as the other kids.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: The movie presents the Mayor as a kind and generally competent individual who just had the wool pulled over his eyes by Mrs. Mavilda, but it's very easy to see him in a considerably less positive light. From what the movie shows, he only makes the barest effort to ensure the children's wellbeing (simply looking at two children in nice clothes and deciding they're being looked after), and could probably have found out about the embezzlement and child abuse if he'd done more than just take a look at two children wearing nice clothes. Furthermore, when he figures out the truth, his first question is "what if the inspector were to come?", which makes it sound like his immediate concern is about [[ItsAllAboutMe whether the fiasco might affect him personally]].

** What little legitimate emotion shown by Judy after being reunited with her [thought then to be dead] daughter is ruined by (to quote WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic) [[https://web.archive.org/web/20150520102907/http://kenbrasai.tumblr.com:80/image/71347030976 "The creepy Coke Santa ad"]] showing up for a couple of seconds ''right in the middle of the scene''. The way he stares unblinkingly at the 'camera' does not help in the slightest.

** A good 90% of Lily's lines are [[TheUnintelligible impossible to understand]] due to utterly baffling BabyTalk. You can tell that she's voiced by a little girl who only recently learned how to talk... ''[[Administrivia/TropesAreTools and that's not a good thing]]''.

** Judy's attempt to stop Mrs. Hopewell from being cut down would actually be pretty sad as she explains that the children have been so starved for love and affection that their desperation caused them to believe a ''pine tree'' was their friend, if not for the fact that she's [[SkewedPriorities more focused on saving a tree]] then going out to find her lost and/or presumably ''dead'' son and daughter.

* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Helen Quirk as Mrs. Mavilda. Despite having no previous acting experience and being [[LargeHam over-the-top in her performance]], Quirk was the only one who didn't seem completely riddled with DullSurprise and actually made Mavilda an enduring character ([[LoveToHate if for all the wrong reasons]]).

** The cover art shown the main page. It's like a kid-friendly cover for ''Film/ChildrenOfTheCorn.''

* MoralEventHorizon: The climax suggests that Mrs. Mavilda would not have hesitated to {{chainsaw|Good}} through the wall of ''people'' [[WouldHurtAChild (including children)]] trying to guard Mrs. Hopewell. Before that, she threatens to beat the children for coming to the tree's defense.

* MemeticMutation: The scene where Santa magically gives the children new clothes being trimmed to make it look like [[BlackComedy he instead blew them up with a fireball]]. LetsPlay/{{Markiplier}} gave this one a lot of traction, due to it showing up in one of his "Try Not to Laugh" videos and making him burst out laughing hysterically.

* SoBadItsGood: Some people have referred to this as ''Film/TheRoom'' of Christmas specials, what with everything being so badly done that it's hilarious.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: The movie presents the Mayor as a kind and generally competent individual who just had the wool pulled over his eyes by Mrs. Mavilda, but it's very easy to see him in a considerably less positive light. From what the movie shows, he only makes the barest effort to ensure the children's wellbeing (simply looking at two children in nice clothes and deciding they're being looked after), and could probably have found out about the embezzlement and child abuse if he'd done more than just take a look at two children wearing nice clothes. Furthermore, when he figures out the truth, his first question is "what if the inspector were to come?", which makes him seem [[ItsAllAboutMe very self-centered]].

** The Mayor, at least among {{WebVideo/Phelous}} fans, due to the latter's portrayal of him as the [[TheDitz scatterbrained]] cousin of fellow Darkhorse [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeastGolden1992 Old]] [[FountainOfMemes Man]].

** The orphan explaining how he likes to pretend the tree in the backyard is hugging him when he's sad. Though unintentional, Judy's heavy-lidded oh-you've-got-to-be-kidding-me reaction is what really sells it.

** Judy's attempt to stop Mrs. Hopewell from being cut down would actually be pretty sad as she explains that the children have been so starved for love and affection that their desperation caused them to believe a ''pine tree'' was their friend, if not for the fact that she's more focused on saving a tree then going out to find her lost and/or presumably ''dead'' son and daughter.

* SpecialEffectFailure: The movie was released in [[TheNineties 1991]] by Family Home Entertainment, but considering how awful its production values are, it could easily pass as something from Creator/DingoPictures. Especially with the abysmal animation quality.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Maybe not a particularly ''good'' character, but it's ironic that the premise of the film gives Mrs. Mavilda plenty of understandable reasons for being only passively neglectful towards the kids, such as a lack of substantial funding for the orphanage, a gambling addiction of some sort, lingering resentment over whatever caused the absence of her husband (she's ''Mrs.'' Mavilda but there's no hint of a Mister), or just not being that great with kids. Any of these could've allowed for a smoother redemption arc come the third act. Instead, she's just an ObviouslyEvil crone who knowingly neglects the children by intentionally gambling their money away and then bragging about it, and only gains "redemption" via BoltOfDivineRetribution.

** The cover art shown the main page. It's like a kid-friendly cover for ''Film/ChildrenOfTheCorn.''

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: The movie presents the Mayor as a kind and generally competent individual who just had the wool pulled over his eyes by Mrs. Mavilda. But some viewers see him in a considerably less positive light. They say that from what the movie shows, he only makes the barest effort to ensure the children's wellbeing (simply looking at two children in nice clothes and deciding they're being looked after), and could probably have found out about the embezzlement and child abuse if he'd done more than just take a look at two children wearing nice clothes. Furthermore, when he figures out the truth, his first question is "what if the inspector were to come?", which makes him seem [[ItsAllAboutMe very self-centered]].