YMMV / Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1998)

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • It's not difficult to feel as though the antagonists are in the right, at least to start with. Stormella getting upset over someone breaking her property and wanting someone to answer for it isn't very out there at all, and it's pretty reasonable that Arrow would be upset with his girlfriend showing affection to someone else as despite her assertion that they're "just friends," Zoe and Rudolph are quite obviously smitten.
  • Zoey never bullies Rudolph and openly disapproves of Arrow and the others doing so, begging the question of why she'd choose to be in a relationship with Arrow for over a year. Was she attracted to his more brooding attitude before seeing his true colors, or did she reluctantly date him to avoid becoming a victim of his bullying herself?
  • Why didn't the Reindeer Games referee disqualify Arrow for crashing into the other racers at the start of the game after disqualifying Rudolph for causing a similar incident? Did he just not see what Arrow did at the start of the game due to standing near the finish line or was he employing a Double Standard and just wanted an excuse to ban Rudolph?
  • A the end of the movie, after Rudolph, Santa and other reindeer return from their delivering gifts to children journey, Arrow can be seen singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" alongside other denizens of Christmas Town. Does he changed his ways and let go his hatred of Rudolph, or he's still the same jerk like before, but has been pressured into singing by Mrs. Claus and his family, who aren't happy of how he treated Rudolph earlier?
• Ass Pull: When Rudolph saves Stormella's life, she owes him a wish according to North Pole tradition and he wishes for her to be nice. Not only is this Heel–Face Turn unearned as a result, but this plot-important law is not mentioned at all before this scene so it feels like even more of a cop-out.
• Awesome Music: "Show Me The Light", the bittersweet love ballad Rudolph and Zoey share as they call to each other across the tundra, is very beautiful and harmonious, especially the full version included on the soundtrack.
  • The pop cover that was done for the end credits (a traditional practice for animated films in the 90's) is just as stirring and heartwarming, digging deeper into Rudolph and Zoey's shared yearning. Special mention goes to the fact that it was sung by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, the same artists who did "(I've Had) The Time of my Life" from Dirty Dancing.
• Crossover Ship: There is a sizeable number of viewers who ship Zoey with Clarice from the original special.
• Cult Classic: It has a small but devoted fanbase.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Slyly the Lovable arctic fox who was voiced by Eric Idle.
• Fandom Rivalry: With fans of the Rankin-Bass special. You either like one or the other. There is rarely a middle ground amongst fans. Not helped by the fact that GoodTimes decided to make a sequel to the Rankin-Bass special some time later, no matter if fans of the special loved it or not.
• Fandom-Specific Plot: Arrow being jealous that Rudolph managed to save Christmas and ended up with Zoey, with the most common fanfic plot having him as a Abusive Parent who doesn't want his children to play with "Ruddy Reject Spawn".
• Fanon: In stories where Rudolph and Zoey end up becoming parents, their child is shown to have inherit their dads glowing red nose.
• Funny Moments: A half-awake Stormella sees Slyly in her bed and asks what he's doing. He responds "Stealing the key to the dungeon, now go back to sleep." In her half-asleep state, Stormella replies "Oh, alright" and lays back down, before doing a Double Take.
• Fridge Horror: As mentioned above, does Zoey reluctantly dated Arrow to avoid becoming a victim of his bullying herself? Given his personality, Zoey may've ended up living in abusive relantionship. And don't mention what Arrow could have done to her...
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The movie is considered a Christmas classic in Poland, most likely because the original 1948 short film and 1964 movie are very much uknown in Poland, resulting in most Poles learning the story of Rudolph from this movie. The glorious Polish dubbing featuring well known old school Polish voice actors also contributed to the film's popularity in Poland, having Jan Kociniak (the Polish voice of Winnie the Pooh) as Leonard the polar bear, while Marcin Kudełka (who had voiced Kovu in the Polish dub of The Lion King II: Simba's Pride) voiced Rudolph.
• Incest Yay Shipping: An accidental case. The narrative itself never mentions that Rudolph and Arrow are cousins, however many fans think they have tension going on.
• Informed Wrongness: Arrow is meant to be seen as a Crazy Jealous Guy for being upset with Zoey and Rudolph's closeness, but the fact Rudolph and Zoey were actually about to kiss right when he caught them, during a time he and Zoey are dating, makes Arrow's anger over the situation pretty understandable.
• Jerkass Woobie: Arrow seems genuinely surprised when the superficial taunts that made his peers laugh in elementary school earn their disdain a few years later. It doesn't help that he grew up in a society where (if Rudolph's other bullies are any indication) said superficiality was the norm.
• Narm:
  • The Stock Sound Effects can make some moments hard to take seriously.
  • Rudolph's singing voice (Michael Lloyd) is a lot deeper than his speaking voice (Kathleen Barr), which makes "Show Me The Light" hilariously jarring when Rudolph's voice seems to abruptly go through puberty for his love ballad duet with Zoey and then switches right back afterwards.
• Narm Charm: The Saturday-Morning Cartoon-quality animation has a nostalgic charm to it.
• Popular with Furries: Rudolph, Arrow, and Zoe have led to the film having a small fandom amongst deer fans.
  • Slyly and Leonard also have a small following among fox and bear fans respectively.
• Questionable Casting: Eric Idle wouldn't be most people's first choice for a cynical, self-interested fox with a Brooklyn accent.
• Strawman Has a Point: The referee at the Reindeer Games disqualifying Rudolph from the race is supposed to come off as discriminatory, but the fact that Rudolph's light (even if unintentionally) caused a collision which could have had serious consequences and hurt the other racers makes it seem reasonable. Of course, Arrow should have also faced consequences for cheating, but still.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: The premise of "Remember It Could Always Be Worse" is virtually the same as "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life". The fact that Eric Idle performs both songs doesn't help.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Some dislike this film for its cheap television-quality animation, wasted use of Celebrity Voice Actors, overuse of Stock Sound Effects, and its replacement of Clarice with Zoey.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Well, plot point, more like. Rudolph and Arrow are cousins as Cupid - Arrow's father - is the brother to one of Rudolph's parents. This fact is never addressed in the film proper, and many feel like acknowledging the two bucks' relation could've led to some interesting drama, such as Arrow's bullying of Rudolph being born out of resentment towards him (especially not wanting anyone else to know he's related to "the red-nosed reject"), or Rudolph feeling inferior to his "normal" cousin.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic:
  • Stormella is supposed to be seen as a despicable villain, as her Villain Song is just called "I Hate Santa Claus". However, the movie seems to forget that she had a very good reason to develop a grudge against him, as he became incautious and his actions started messing with her work. Some think that she could've easily been reasoned with and done a proper Heel–Face Turn, viewing her Heel–Face Brainwashing as unnecessary.
  • Arrow can classify as this too. Yes, he's a Jerkass no different than the rest of the reindeer or elves from teasing Rudolph, but he's absolutely justified in feeling bitter towards him for wooing his way into Zoey’s interest while the two are still dating. Him walking in on them about to kiss is treated as not that big a deal, but it’s plainly stated he and Zoey are together at that point.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: The film intends to portray Zoey as a compassionate nice girl who's clearly attracted to Rudolph from the start, but she constantly and indiscreetly flirts with him while still in a relationship with Arrow, whom she doesn't break up with until long after this. At one point she even insinuates that Rudolph kiss her while they are under a mistletoe, and chastises Arrow when he intervenes. It's never explained why Zoey is dating Arrow in the first place, what with Arrow clearly being a Jerkass, but it's still inconsiderate of her to openly flirt with other boys during the relationship. It doesn't help that she's never called out on this behavior by anyone except for Arrow, who's treated as being in the wrong. Making matters worse is the fact that she's also the one who crosses Stormella's bridge leading to her setting off the storm that nearly got Christmas cancelled, and all on the assumption that Rudolph crossed it first despite her having no reason to believe this, especially considering if he had, Stormella would have likely started the storm already.
• The Woobie: As with every adaptation of the story, Rudolph himself is a bullying victim.

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