I admit that I am not a huge fan of contemporary Christmas specials. There's just a certain warmth and sense of wonder missing from them - they're more concerned with bringing "hipness" to Christmas than representing a traditional holiday. This one, however, captures the feel of an old-time special while using modern technology. Like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, it focuses on a couple of misfits - a reindeer trying to make a name for himself as a toy inventor and a boy who can't make friends because his family is constantly moving. They meet and bond when the reindeer takes off in pursuit of a stolen snow globe (which contains children's wishes for Santa). What follows is an adventure filled with high-tech hijinks (there is a memorable bit involving Christmas ornament-shaped robots) and holiday warmth - the reindeer encourages the boy to pursue both his love interest and his hobby of ventriloquism. The ultimate message is that there's nothing wrong with being "weird," and that we all have something to offer. I usually flip the channel when I see a contemporary special come on, but this is one I will make an effort to rewatch every holiday season. Not perfect (it sometimes feels like they tried to cram too much plot and too many characters into the one-hour time frame , but still a worthy successor to Rakin-Bass!