Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street
Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street is a second direct-to-video animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures and Paul & Joe Productions, produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, Plus One Animation (Korea) Co., Ltd. and Grimsaem Animation, Korea Co., Ltd., released to VHS on November 6, 2001. It is a direct-to-video compilation of four unrelated episodes of the Recess TV series: "Principal for a Day", "The Great Can Drive", "Weekend at Muriel’s", and the series' Christmas special "Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave" (told as flashbacks by the school faculty members while stuck in a snowstorm). It was followed by two more direct-to-video Recess films in 2003: Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade, and Recess: All Growed Down.
Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street | |
---|---|
VHS cover | |
Directed by | |
Written by | |
Starring | |
Production company | Walt Disney Television Animation[1] |
Distributed by | Walt Disney Home Video[2] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes[1] |
Country | United States[1] |
Language | English |
Plot
The film begins after the events of the Christmas episode “Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave. Principal Peter Prickly is giving Miss Muriel Finster and Miss Grotke a ride home. They make it outside Third Street School and see that it’s snowing. Grotke thinks it’s beautiful but Prickly and Finster think it’s trouble. When they get to the parking lot, they see T.J. Detweiler and his friends Vince LaSalle, Mikey Blumberg, Gretchen Grundler, Gus Griswald and Ashley Spinelli drawing on Prickly’s car. Grotke says that it’s harmless drawings, But Finster thinks that it’s graffiti. The teachers get in the car and start to drive. As they go, Grotke tells Prickly and Finster how hard they are on T.J. and his friends and Prickly and Finster start complaining about how rotten T.J. is. But Grotke reminds Prickly how he made T.J. Principal for a Day, but Prickly and Finster reveal that it was actually a plan to make T.J. behave himself and tells the story of “Principal for a Day.”
After the story, a snowball hits Prickly’s windshield, causing him to crash into a snow bank. Prickly and Finster think that T.J. and his friends did it, but Grotke doesn’t think so. While trying to get it unstuck, Finster tells Grotke how T.J. and his friends ruin everything and Grotke tells Finster the story of “ The Great Can Drive” and how how T.J. and his friends learned the spirit of giving, But Finster thinks they learned “the spirit of ruthless competition.” After failing to get the car unstuck, Prickly goes for help and tells Finster and Grotke to stay. Grotke tells Finster that she thinks she and Prickly like T.J. and his friends, and how Finster babysat Spinelli for the weekend and thinks that they became friends, but Finster tells Grotke something happened that weekend (“Weekend at Muriel’s)
Prickly returns frozen and gets in the car and they huddle together for warmth. Prickly and Finster begin to cry and say that it’s been a rotten Christmas. But Grotke tells them that it’s been a great Christmas and tells the story of the pageant. (“Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave”). Prickly and Finster start to think that it really hasn’t been a bad Christmas. All of a sudden, they feel something moving the car, they look out the window and see that it’s T.J. and his friends rescuing them. They get the car unstuck and T.J. and his friends wish them a Merry Christmas. Prickly admits T.J. and the others aren't so bad, to which Finster agrees, saying that telling the stories about the kids really makes her feel more warm and fuzzy than before. The film ends with T.J. and the gang singing their version of "Jingle Bells", describing their classmates and teachers.
Cast
- Andrew Lawrence as T.J. Detweiler
- Ross Malinger as T.J Detweiler
- Rickey D'Shon Collins as Vince LaSalle
- Ashley Johnson as Gretchen Grundler
- Courtland Mead as Gus Griswald
- Jason Davis as Mikey Blumberg
- Robert Goulet as Mikey Blumberg's singing voice
- Pamela Segall Adlon as Spinelli
- Erik von Detten as Erwin Lawson
- Allyce Beasley as Miss Alordayne Grotkey
- April Winchell as Muriel P. Finster
- Dabney Coleman as Principal Prickly
- Ryan O'Donohue as Randall Weems/Kid 1
- James Earl Jones as Santa Claus/ Mister
- Dick Clark as himself appears in Christmas episode
Additional voices
- Gregg Berger - Robotic Santa, TV Editor, Astronaut
- Klee Bragger
- Rachel Crane
- E. G. Daily - Trisha, Cap'n Sticky, Mall Elf, Kid #2
- Paul Dooley - Hank the Janitor, Mall Santa
- Blake Ewing -
- Jess Harnell - Ricky McCloud
- Tress MacNeille -
- Anndi McAfee - Ashley Armbuster
|
References
- "Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street (2001)". Allmovie. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
- King, Susan (November 22, 2001). "Apes, Sleuths and Tonto Too". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 18, 2020.