Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer (film)


Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer is a 2000 Canadian–American animated Christmas TV special, directed by Phil Roman. The special was first released on home video in October, and then aired on The WB network on December 21st, 2000. The title and story are based on the 1979 novelty song of the same name.
The film subsequently aired on The CW, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Freeform and AMC. Since Warner Home Video distributed this special, Warner Bros. owns the copyrights.

Plot

The special begins by introducing Jake Spankenheimer and his family, most notably his grandmother, who owns a small general store in the town of Cityville. The store happens to be the only piece of property not owned by Austin Bucks, the wealthiest man in town, whose CEO corporation specializes in making Christmas easier and less involved for the town's busy residents. Grandma tells Austin that his method of trying to make Christmas easier is not really for the best and refuses to sell the store. This runs afoul of the gold-digging Cousin Mel, who plans to sell the store anyway.
Jake and Grandma love the holiday season, though the rest of the family aren't as excited. Jake and his sister Daphne argue over Santa Claus' existence, and their parents gently try to break the news to him that Santa is not real. Meanwhile, Cousin Mel comes up with a plan to sabotage Grandma's famous fruitcake recipe, secretly adding an ingredient with hopes that they won't sell, forcing Grandma to sell the store to Austin. Grandma, who hasn't taken her medication that evening, leaves the house with the fruitcake on Christmas Eve night as Santa's reindeer fly overhead. Suddenly they go out of control and crash into her. Jake witnesses the accident, but his family refuses to believe him. The next morning, Grandma is indeed missing and the police find an imprint of her in the snow, along with her belongings. Cousin Mel found a letter that she quickly hides from the others.
Nine months pass without Grandma and the store's business drops. During this time, Cousin Mel comes up with a new plan to sell the store to Austin, by tricking Grandpa into giving her his power of attorney. When Jake objects, Austin agrees to give him another week in order to find Grandma before going through with the deal. Adamant in his belief that Santa ran over her, Jake emails Santa, and soon Quincy, Santa's head elf, comes to take Jake to the North Pole. It turns out that Santa had taken Grandma back to the North Pole for medical treatment. Unfortunately she has amnesia, and until receiving Jake's e-mail Santa had no idea of who she was. After Jake explains the situation, Santa, Quincy, and Grandma agree to go with him to stop the deal.
When they arrive in Cityville, however, Cousin Mel and her attorney, I.M. Slime, quickly trick Grandma into going with them. After Santa explains to Austin what has happened, Jake and Quincy discover that Grandma has gone missing once again. Cousin Mel uses the opportunity to accuse Santa of being behind her disappearance. Santa is arrested and put on trial for kidnapping, leaving the scene of an accident, and "sleighicular negligence". The two then plot to sue him, deducing that someone who can pay for billions of presents must be incredibly wealthy.
Three months later, Daphne suspects that Cousin Mel may have been involved in Grandma's second disappearance, and Jake and Quincy follow her to a cabin in the woods where she and I.M. Slime are keeping Grandma out of sight. They rescue Grandma and find Santa's letter explaining what happened, that Cousin Mel had found at the site of Grandma's accident, and also the vial of the ingredient Cousin Mel added to Grandma's fruit cake that Christmas Eve night, which had the effect of "reindeer-nip" irresistible to reindeer. They manage to restore Grandma's memory by feeding her some of her own fruit cake, and rush to the courthouse to prove Santa's innocence.
Confronted with the evidence, Cousin Mel is forced to confess everything she did. She even admits that she hates the true meaning of Christmas and is nothing more than a greedy person. She is then placed under arrest for obstructing justice and "almost ruining Christmas," and the judge lets Santa go after finally discovering the truth. Austin approaches Grandma again, this time offering to franchise her store throughout the country, having seen how much she and Jake care about their family and their business.
The show ends with Grandma accidentally picking up the tainted fruit cake instead of her own recipe, with the result that Santa hits her again as he is trying to fly back to the North Pole. Grandpa and Jake pick her up; this time she did not suffer amnesia. Santa's sleigh takes off into the night with him saying the Spanish phrase for "Merry Christmas": "Feliz Navidad."

Characters

released Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer to VHS on October 31, 2000 and to DVD on October 16, 2001.