Tag Archives: The Little Drummer Boy

The Little Drummer Boy Book II Review

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It’s time to look at the relatively obscure sequel to the original Drummer Boy. At the very least I had not heard of this film before. The first Drummer Boy was certainly a classic so this one had a lot to live up to. It’s a reasonable special. Not a whole lot happens but that’s a given considering the length. The villains were pretty fun and I think the special did a good job with the visual gags. While this is a special that feels like it was made for kicks, I’m still glad we got a sequel.

The short starts out with a bunch of roman guards storming a poor village. Someone had spent months creating a few large bells to signal the birth of Jesus Christ and was preparing to set them up. Unfortunately the villains had other plans and quickly stole the bells. They plan to melt them down into pieces of silver so the villains will all be rich. All hope seems to be lost but that’s when the Drummer Boy steps in. He figures that he can distract the villains with his performance while the animals grab the bells but this task may enact a greater price than he could have ever suspected.

Naturally the guards are as corrupt as they come. You certainly aren’t supposed to root for these villains by any stretch of the imagination. Still, the special at least makes them fairly humorous. I actually enjoyed the song about money. Both because of how unexpected it was and because the lyrics actually made sense. It just had a catchy beat and if anything the villains were able to pull it off better than the actual Drummer Boy. Throwing in some good music is always a good way to make a special even more memorable and I don’t think I’ll be forgetting this one anytime soon.

I’m still not a fan of the claymation style though. It all looks rather clunky and the animations just don’t look as nice to the eye. There’s nothing particularly appealing about the style and since everything looks like clay you won’t be watching this one for the visuals. Still, the actual plot is good. It’s always cool to see something taking place around the birth of Jesus. The Drummer Boy makes for a good main character. He also made quite the sacrifice for his mission which is more than other leads would have been able to do in his shoes. The special has a happy ending though and so everything worked out in the end.

Overall, The Little Drummer Boy Part II is a pretty good sequel. It’s nice to have the old gang return even if his actual drum skills didn’t really look so good this time around. I guess realistically you can’t expect such a tactic to work for very long right? At least he was able to keep it up for a little while and it was a nice homage to the original. If you enjoyed the original Drummer Boy then I certainly think you’ll like this one and vice versa. They’re pretty similar and you could easily watch them both back to back since combined they would be about as long as the average episode if not a little longer.

Overall 6/10

The Little Drummer Boy

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The Little Drummer Boy is a short from the 1960’s so it’s pretty old by today’s standards. Luckily, we know that old films can be pretty great (Godzilla, Several Hitchcock films, Superman, etc) and this one gives us a good message to take home for Christmas. Now’s the time to watch this one and it’s a pretty emotional story with some good themes inside.

A little kid begins to hate all humans when his parents are destroyed in a sudden attack by bandits or a hostile nation. He escapes with three of the farm animals and his final gift from his parents..his drum. The animals can feel the love that eminates from the drum and the kid when he plays it and they begin to dance. Unfortunately, this attracts the wrong crowd and the little drummer boy is kidnapped given a deal. He will perform in front of three kings and then he will be set free with half of the money. The kid reluctantly agrees and he gets ready to perform.

This title is only about 20-25 minutes so the plot is pretty continuous and hard to describe without spoiling other parts of the film so that’s as close as I can get to explaining it. One of the cool things about this film is that it’s a Christian Christmas film. It takes place during the birth of Jesus Christ and now you can probably guess who the three kings are. The film does a good job of developing the main story and then connecting it with the virgin birth. We only see Jesus for an instant at the end, but he is definitely portrayed flawlessly. His dominion over all is never in question and there had been a dicey scene earlier involving an animal injury, but let’s just say that it is taken care of.

I was glad to see that since animal violence is the last thing that any of us want to see in this film or in any title for that matter. There is a small scene where a donkey doesn’t make it early on, but luckily they quickly take us away from that scene and it wasn’t a violent death by other wolves or something like that. The drummer boy is accompanied by two corrupt vagabonds for most of the film and they actually get a happy ending for themselves. We can assume that it probably didn’t last, but they are temporarily rich. Maybe they were nicer than they let on. They definitely knew how to earn money quickly, but it’s going to be difficult without the drummer boy’s magical music.

The animation used seems to be a stop motion of sorts with figures. I naturally can’t say that it looks bad since this is the 60’s although I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it puts most current shows to shame. It works for the story and I wouldn’t call it a negative. The main character is the drummer boy and I will admit that he’s not the greatest of main characters. I still don’t really care for children playing the lead role in any film, but he is a nice individual and he learns a valuable lesson by the end. He just wants what’s best for his animals and he’s a nice friend to have.

Overall, this is a pretty good story to watch on Christmas. It’s a pretty cheerful film by the end even if it is very somber during the beginning. Most importantly, it’s a Christmas film that reminds us of why we celebrate on December 25th. The birth of Christ is what started this festive day and we always need to keep in mind that this is the true reason for such a day. Obtaining presents and hanging out with the family are two very fun parts of Christmas, but the day is still about Christ first and foremost. Once again, I definitely recommend watching this title for Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone!