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Prancer

Play trailer Poster for Prancer G 1989 1h 43m Kids & Family Holiday Fantasy Play Trailer Watchlist
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68% Tomatometer 28 Reviews 59% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Refusing to give up her belief in Santa Claus, a child, Jessica Riggs (Rebecca Harrell), discovers a hurt reindeer in the woods, which she believes to be Prancer. With the help of a sympathetic veterinarian (Abe Vigoda), Jessica takes care of the wounded creature. It's supposed to be a secret, but eventually a store Santa Claus (Michael Constantine), the girl's dad (Sam Elliott) and the entire town find out about Prancer, leading to big problems for Jessica and her family.
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Prancer

Prancer

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Critics Consensus

Prancer's good-natured holiday cheer -- and a terrific performance from its young star -- are enough to make this yuletide adventure a moderately rewarding watch.

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Critics Reviews

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Martin F. Kohn Detroit Free Press 12/13/2024
6/10
While Prancer comes across as E.T. with antlers, its performances are good and its atmosphere authentic. Go to Full Review
Michael H. Price Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com 12/13/2024
4/10
The picture has enough good-heartedness to work despite the simplistic conceits of Greg Taylor's screenplay. Go to Full Review
Carrie Rickey Philadelphia Inquirer 12/14/2014
2/4
A hodgepodge of Heidi and Meet Me in St. Louis. Go to Full Review
Joanna Connors Cleveland Plain Dealer 12/13/2024
Though the film doesn't inspire awe visually, it does offer a heartwarming, unabashedly family-oriented story. Go to Full Review
Steve Warren Bay Area Reporter 12/13/2024
Not exactly rapid-fire to begin with, Prancer slows to a crawl toward the end. Maurice Jarre's syrupy score, suggesting a majesty not present in the visuals, drags it down further. Go to Full Review
Kat Halstead Common Sense Media 12/07/2022
3/5
Scenes with Prancer himself are more realistic than might be expected of a relatively low-budget 1980s film, and a touching relationship develops between the reindeer and young Jessica. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Blu B 2d The music is good and pretty much carries this at times for me. Everything else is half decent. Man it's almost good for me. At times it pulls too much on the heartstrings and is too sentimental. But there are genuine scenes every now and than that are goood and get at the heart of what the film is trying to explore. A Father daughters bond through the struggles of grief, making ends meet, and butting heads. Than you got the Reindeer plot which I figured would eventually lead to bringing the two together which this....sort of does at the very end. I mean it's slow and takes a while to figure out where it's going and even longer to achieve it. In the second half it just starts bouncing around between subplots of her working to get money, bonding with Prancer, and her Dad. It just gets boring and feels like it goes nowhere. Than it feels like the Prancer and Dad issues are two seperate stories that don't interact together very well and take too long to come together. See more Amanda B Dec 26 Loved this movie as a kid! See more Juliet W @Julietwenz 12/24/2024 I adored this movie, I can't believe I had not seen it before. The little actress that plays Jessica is absolutely darling. I think it's a wonderful holiday movie and a timeless story. And, Sam Elliot... See more Jay W 11/21/2024 "Prancer" was a film my 3rd grade teacher put on for the class before Christmas Break. We were only able to get through the first 20 minutes of the movie, and we didn't ever finish the film. It says something, that 25 years later, I was still curious enough to see how the film ended. It was by no means a pressing concern, but it was satisfactory to finally finish it. This film is sort of like "Miracle on 34th Street", but instead of proving that it's Santa, it's about proving the reindeer is Prancer. Combine that with Cloris Leachman playing the old man Marley from Home Alone type character. Speaking of, this film has a crazy cast. There are 2 Oscar Nominees and an Oscar Winner in the cast. Something interesting about the film is the dynamic they demonstrate between the mother, father and aunt. The father, played by Sam Elliot, is seen as very cold and terse with his daughter, Jessica. The aunt, on the other hand, shows nothing but kindness to Jessica. But throughout the film, Jessica is adamant that she wants to live with her dad and not her aunt. I actually give this film a lot of credit for not villainizing the aunt. For the most part this is a film without a villain, and I don't think it needs one. The movie is very sweet, but sometimes too cheesy even for me. The acting, even by the kids, is great. Some of the "kid logic" of the movie is frustrating, but without it I guess the story wouldn't have happened. Now I want 7 movie sequels following adventures of the other reindeer. Come on Hallmark, you got nothing better to do. See more Koi P @hopep 11/10/2024 A perfect performance by Rebecca Harrel. My heart feels happy in the innocence of childhood while simultaneously breaking. A heartwarming and endearing Christmas film. See more Rick M 01/09/2024 Not the best wrong or direction, but Jessica (Rebecca Harrell absolutely makes the film. See more Read all reviews
Prancer

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Movie Info

Synopsis Refusing to give up her belief in Santa Claus, a child, Jessica Riggs (Rebecca Harrell), discovers a hurt reindeer in the woods, which she believes to be Prancer. With the help of a sympathetic veterinarian (Abe Vigoda), Jessica takes care of the wounded creature. It's supposed to be a secret, but eventually a store Santa Claus (Michael Constantine), the girl's dad (Sam Elliott) and the entire town find out about Prancer, leading to big problems for Jessica and her family.
Director
John D. Hancock
Producer
Raffaella De Laurentiis
Screenwriter
Greg Taylor
Distributor
Orion Pictures
Production Co
Cineplex-Odeon Films, Raffaella Productions, Nelson Entertainment
Rating
G
Genre
Kids & Family, Holiday, Fantasy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 17, 1989, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 7, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$18.1M
Runtime
1h 43m
Sound Mix
Dolby, Surround
Aspect Ratio
35mm
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