Merry Christmas or Hanukkah or whatever you celebrate! Snickerdoodle Hamster back again with what I like to call a Liveblog Christmas Special! Today's victim: Yummy Gummy: Search for Santa.
Because chances are most of you are wondering what this is, Yummy Gummy: Search for Santa is a film released by Lionsgate in 2012 (in fact, around a month before this liveblog was written) to tie in with the extensive Gummibär franchise. In case you don't know, the Gummibär franchise started as a simple internet video
that quickly went viral in 2007. Since, the company Gummibär Worldwide has been formed, and loads of merchandise has been made, including multiple CDs, mobile phone games, candies,* clothing, and even clay.
The film itself? It's actually Worse Than It Sounds. Even the trailer should explain everything. And why would I get my hands on this in the first place? It recently aired on Vortexx so I could watch it for free and DVR it. Hooray for logic!
Like when I reviewed Life's a Jungle, I will be splitting this liveblog so each part covers around ten minutes of the film. However, because the film is really only fifty minutes long (and the final ten minutes on the DVD are dedicated to bonus content), this will make this liveblog yet another five-parter. That being said, let's get started!
The film starts with the logo for Lionsgate. Enjoy it while you can folks, as this is the best animation in the entire movie. We start with a spoof of the classic Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer logo, with gold text at the top reading GUMMY BEAR WORLDWIDE, and the banner reading CARPE GUMMY BEAR with a gummy bear head on the bottom to top it off. Because this is a Christmas Special, there is also a reindeer in place of the classic lion, yet the reindeer still roars. We then abruptly cut to the Title Sequence as we pan through some snow-covered mountains. We then get the opening credits.
GUMMIBÄR™: THE YUMMY GUMMY Search For Santa
We then pan in to a cozy looking two-story house that appears to be in the middle of nowhere. A Narrator starts to recite 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, albeit changing St. Nicholas to Santa Claus. He is quickly proven to be a Lemony Narrator who tends to emphasize certain points which are Blatant Lies.
After skipping "And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap had just settled down for a long winter's nap", we cut to Santa Claus, who can't get down the chimney. While the reindeer constantly accuse Santa for his cookies-and-milk diet, he tries hard to get down the chimney until a tap from one of the reindeer causes him to fall down. As the reindeer continue to poke fun at him, they throw his sack down at him, which causes him to fall into the house, with all of the presents falling out of his bag. After managing to get back up, he tries to clean up the toys, only for him to set off a motion-sensored Gummibär singing toy. Santa then tries to get the toy to shut up, only to cause an Epic Fail at each attempt. After finally shutting off the toy, the clock reaches midnight and starts annoying him as well. Of course, this leads to another Epic Fail, and the christmas tree crushes him. This injury horrifies the Gummy Bear into screaming in horror, only to wake up the entire household.
Narrator: But Gummy was relieved. It was All Just a Dream.
We then see the real Santa Claus flying his sleigh over the mountains, only for an alien to target him.
Narrator: It was just a dream. Wasn't it?
Meanwhile, in Gummy's house, everyone is woken up by a phone call from "Papa Bear", telling Gummy's friends who were not in the original videos to tune into the television. The chameleon (apparently named Harry then comes in to try to get a vampire bat named Vam Piro to go downstairs to watch the news. However, when explaining the news to Gummy, he constantly tries to finish Harry's sentences. Hilarity Ensues.
Harry: Wake up! It's Santa Claus! He's-
Gummy: The best guy ever!
Harry: Yes, but-
Gummy: And the wonderful spreader of hearty good cheer.
Harry: That's for sure but-
Gummy: Ooh, I LOVE CHRISTMAS!
Of course, Gummy is so distracted that he starts a Christmas song. That's when you realize how bad the voice acting in this really is, with Gummy being the case-in-point example. His speaking voice sounds like a hammy, American child's voice while his singing voice is the same sped-up alien voice from the internet videos.
...
WHAT THE FUCK WERE THEY THINKING?
It's like they took the singing voice from the original videos, and then they just got some stranger from across the street to do his speaking voice. It's like making Alvin and the Chipmunks have high pitched singing voices from singers who knew what they were doing, then casting random strangers who did not speak English as their first language to do their speaking voices. WHAT THE HECK, CASTING AGENCY?
So anyway, this song plays, yet Harry is the only one taking the fact that there is an emergency seriously. After Harry convinces the rest of the gang to listen to him, he turns on the news to bring them a Coincidental Broadcast. Apparently, Santa Claus has gone missing, and Christmas can't happen without them. To make things worse, the elves are protesting so much, the reporters head to their ban to escape the riot in the North Pole. The broadcast then abruptly ends.
Who will be Saving Christmas? Find out next time!
