Santa Claus and the Magic Drum (Finnish: Joulupukki ja noitarumpu) is a 1996 Finnish-Hungarian animated Christmas Special based on the book by the same name by Mauri Kunnas.
Santa Claus finds a letter from someone named Rascal with a strange drawing on it. He and his elves try to figure out what Rascal wants for Christmas. Meanwhile, various strange accidents start to happen, and he and his helpers must find their source.
Tropes in Santa Claus and the Magic Drum:
- Adapted Out: In the book, one of Santa's incidents is that he eats oatmeal with too much pepper in it. The cheerful expressions of some recently baked gingerbread men are also turned into frowns. When the shaman escapes the village, he has used a rope to tether Santa's reindeer together by the antlers in order to delay the chase. All of these incidents are left out from the film.
- Anti-Villain: Rascal sent Santa a letter about his greatest wish to become an elf, but after getting no answer despite fifty years of patient waiting, he snapped for seemingly getting the cold shoulder and decided to use his sorcery to prank Santa and his helpers. However, he gives up on revenge when he's told Santa has known about his letter only for a few days because it got lost in delivery. He's then welcomed by the elves, much to his delight, and he even uses magic to cure Santa's cold.
- Easily Forgiven: Once the shaman is revealed to be the older Rascal who wants revenge over a misunderstanding, the elves instantly forgive all the trouble he caused and allow him to join them. Curing Santa's cold so that he can deliver presents to kids probably helps too.
- Evil Sorcerer: The incidents are caused by a shaman with his magic drum. Santa is bewildered by this since Lapp wizards are usually peaceful. The shaman turns out to be an older and vengeful Rascal, but once he's told his revenge has been unjustified, he pulls a Heel–Face Turn and uses his drum one more time to cure Santa's cold.
- "Eureka!" Moment: When Nora and Willie discover the music band practising, they realize that the strange noise they've been hearing during Santa's accidents comes from a drum, albeit not the same one Agricola is using.
- Foreshadowing:
- In the English dub, the "Working for Santa" song mentions the singer wanting to work for Santa since he was a little boy. Guess what Rascal's Christmas wish was?
- When the letter first appears, Mrs. Claus is the first one to notice that the paper is decades old. When Rascal is later confirmed to be fifty-five years old, Nora figures out that the letter was sent fifty years ago by taking a look at the postmark.
- Fresh Clue: When Nora and Willie hear the mystery noise from the attic of a storehouse and go to investigate, they find the dormer window opened and beneath it fresh snow on the floor, making them realize someone just escaped through it by the time they came to the attic.
- Freudian Excuse: Rascal's greatest wish was to become one of Santa's elves, but he got no answer to his letter after fifty years of waiting, so he decided to pester Santa as revenge. Once he's told the letter getting lost in delivery for all those years was the only reason he didn't get his answer, he immediately gives up on his grudge and is welcomed by the elves.
- Heel–Face Turn: Rascal stops bothering Santa once he is offered to join the elves.
- Magic Music: The titular magic drum.
- Misplaced Retribution: Rascal is disturbing the Christmas preparations because he believes he was neglected after his letter about his greatest wish got no answer for five decades. Once he learns that it was only a matter of the post losing the letter for all those years, he gives up on all his bitterness and stops causing mischief.
- Saving Christmas: A mysterious, poltergeist-like force starts sabotaging Santa's workshop shortly before Christmas, and Santa and his helpers must figure out what's going on. Things take a turn for the worse when Santa catches a bad cold when pursuing the man behind the magical attacks, and it looks like he won't recover in time to work on Christmas.
- Sinister Schnoz: The antagonist has a large and long nose.
- Spoiler Title: The titular magic drum is the cause of Santa's mysterious accidents.
