The Easter Bunny Is Comin To Town: The Spring Time Sequel To One Of My Favorite Holiday Specials

(Image: IMDB)

 I love "Santa Claus Is Comin To Town", it is in my top ten favorite specials to watch during the holiday season and is my favorite of the Rankin Bass specials made. It fills me with joy, i love the songs, it makes me laugh, and I just have so much nostalgia for it, it even inspires me still, I will have to talk about this and some of the Rankin Bass classics come Christmas time.  It was brought to my attention recently that Rankin Bass not only made multiple specials, but they did for multiple holidays, some being for Easter. One of them I grew up with which was "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" which I thought was fine, and had some memorable moments, but then I discovered that there was one about the Easter Bunny connected to a childhood favorite of mine. A sequel that involves the same mail carrier from "Santa Claus Is Comin To Town" and even is told in the same format, which is an origin story that answers questions one may ask. So since I love watching some of the other works of Rankin Bass such as "Jack Frost" or even their take on some of the stories from "Lord Of The Rings" why not dive into this. Is there a treat inside or was this Easter egg best left hidden and forgotten, let's find out.

Now I have recently found joy in going to the thrift store and collecting DVDS for my movie collection, I am sure to dive deeper into that subject at a later date, but I did find this on DVD for one dollar and had to pick it up when I saw it to cover it for this blog.  It follows the origins of Easter traditions, while being told by the same mail carrier played by Fred Astaire from the Winter time special about old St. Nick. Also there is a talking train. 

This by all means is a diet version of "Santa Claus Is Comin To Town" it hits so many of the same beats while never packing the same punch as it. It has a lead who is an orphan trying to spread joy while making friends and trying to avoid an angry lawmaker who wishes to stop the creation of this new holiday. There is even an antagonist who then becomes a friend after one kind deed is done for them and a song is sung. Instead of a funny winter themed wizard, its just a bear, a full on bear who can talk. All in a tale recounted by a character who acknowledges the past special that happened and how time has passed. This came seven years after "Santa Claus Is Comin To Town" and it just was very middle of the road, and that boils down to many factors. 

One of the most important aspects of these specials are the songs and the songs in this are very forgettable. There was only one I could remember, and the main character gets one song, there are more songs about the train then the Easter Bunny. And that is another factor the Easter Bunny feels like a side character in his own movie, he comes up with some traditions and helps one of the main characters, and even convinces the main antagonist to change her ways, but everything just happens. The jokes, the ways things come about and become traditions, everything just happens. Even the ending just pops up out of nowhere, and the big final confrontation is solved in a matter of seconds. The train is introduced and can talk, and the big final song is about the train doing his all, right after he had a song. 

Everything in this family special is stated out loud, as in things are called traditions as they are happening, right after they are introduced. The main antagonist never gets a song but instead just plots, and then changes, and as I mentioned many of the songs are weak, they feel like diet versions of the songs from the special this is a semi-sequel to. 

The special is less then an hour but is not paced well, and as I mentioned, nothing feels important. Even the bear becoming a friend after they make him a suit, feels like a lesser version of Winter's story, he even causes some trouble a time or two and gets tricked, so he is a combination of Winter from "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" and the Bumble from "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer". 

I will say there are worse Rankin Bass specials "Rudolph And Frosty's 4th Of July" comes to mind, but there are better Easter themed ones. I have not seen the other one which yes, there are two origins of the Easter Bunny specials, but "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" is a better special. I watched it growing up and it was entertaining, had good songs, and even some good comedy. I have not seen it since I was a child and should probably revisit it and see if it holds up, and perhaps I will sometime soon, but I will not be going back to this one. This is not their worst, but also is far from their best, this one is overall harmless. It has a good song or two, the animation is good for their style, and the colors are very nice and invoke the feeling of Spring and Easter very well. But at the end of the day, it just a special that is in one rabbit ear and out the other, one that I don't see myself going to as often as the Christmas specials. I do have the DVD so maybe I will try again at some point, but I don't see myself pulling this one out of my Easter basket again, anytime soon.