It Came From The Man Cave!: Santa's Magic Toy Bag

Santa's Magic Toy Bag

This year for Christmas I found myself digging for those old Christmas Classic Cartoons that you just don't hear much about anymore. So let us start this one off right with a little-known title...

Directed by:

James Field

Written by:

Paul Fusco
Troy Cabral

Stars:

Lisa Buckley

Bob Fappiano

Paul Fusco

In Santas Magic Toy Bag, Christmas is bustling, festive and exciting for Santa, Mrs. Claus and all the Elves at the North Pole. Sherman, an aspiring apprentice Elf, tries his best to fit in but can't seem to do anything right! He's worked in nearly every department at the North Pole and has triggered a series of disasters everywhere he goes.

Santa tries to bolster Sherman's self-esteem by entrusting him with the special task of guarding his Magic Toy Bag until Christmas Eve. When Sherman accidentally shrinks the bag by washing it, he fears there might not be a Christmas this year. Unless the accident-prone Elf can finally make things right!

I'm surprised by one simple fact about Santa's Magic Bag, I have never seen this or heard of this before today. I was digging around Vudu and found it on sale. It looked interesting enough with signing puppets straight out of the 80's where could one ever go wrong with this one? Well, you can't!

Santa's Magic Toy Bag is a 1983 TV special produced by Paul Fusco, the creator of ALF. It was originally broadcast on the Showtime network and that is probably why nobody has heard of it. Showtime was pretty new in 83 and most households stuck with HBO. This was also published on DVD last year but is still really hard to find.

The puppets look really good for its time, not quite Jim Henson but believable none the less. The songs are fun and catchy and the acting is not too bad. Now the story is the strong point here that comes with a lot of heart and warmth. You really want Sherman to pull through even after he makes one blunder after another. Santa's Magic Toy Bag won't pull at your heart strings like some Christmas show's try to do which really helps make this special and much more energetic for families.

It's really too bad this has been locked away for so many years, but I'm glad it has found its way out to the world thanks to DVD and movie sites like Hulu. If you ever get a chance to watch this one it will leave you with a wonderful spirit inside you.