tek's rating: ¾

An Almost Christmas Story (24:30), on Disney+
Christmas Specials Wiki; Disney Wiki; IMDb; Maere Studios; Wikipedia
streaming sites: Disney+

Caution: spoilers.

This was released on November 15, 2024, and I watched it that day. It's computer animated, but designed to look like stop-motion. It was inspired by a true story, though it's heavily fictionalized. It's narrated by a folk singer (voiced by John C. Reilly), who also appears in the story himself. (He seems to be homeless, but I could be wrong.)

A young owl named Moon accidentally destroys the nest he was living in with his Papa (Jim Gaffigan) and younger sibling, Peaky. Papa tells his kids to stay in the tree while he flies off to find someplace else for them to live. But Moon decides to rebuild the nest himself, and flies off to collect sticks. While out of the nest, he gets attacked by an eagle, and breaks his wing. His Papa fights off the eagle, and tells Moon to stay in the tree that he fell into. Then the tree gets cut down and taken to Rockefeller Center, to be used as a Christmas tree. He falls out of tree onto an ice skating rink, where he briefly meets a young girl named Luna. Later, he meets a trio of pigeons who completely twist everything Moon says, and start chasing him around the city. Eventually, he finds Luna again, and she tries to take care of him. They talk to each other, but while Moon seems to understand Luna, she doesn't understand him. They both want to get home, and eventually receive some unexpected help from the pigeons that had chased Moon earlier. In the end, Moon gets home safely.

Well, there are some okay songs, and a good-ish message about the spirit of Christmas. I liked the animation. And I dunno what else to say. It was well worth 25 minutes of my time, but I don't expect to find it very memorable.


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