ragingbull1965 For kids who have grown up with Christmas animations such as Jim Carry's Grinch and A Christmas Carol, this classic animation may not appeal to them. But for those of us who grew up watching this program as well as A Charlie Brown's Christmas and A Christmas Story, this will definitely have sentimental value. The ranger represents every parent who tries to explain Santa Claus to their children and the cubs represent every child who wants to learn about Santa. Of course the parents know that Santa doesn't exist and the kids want to believe in him so the parents (in this case, the Ranger) will pretend Santa is real so as not to disappoint their children (the cubs). Where I live, this delightful animation is not shown anymore. The last time it was featured was 2004, if I recall correctly. But if anyone has the chance to watch it, I recommend that they give it a chance. And for those of us "baby-boomers", it will be a chance to relive our own childhood and remember a time when public celebrations of Christmas were not politically incorrect and how excited we all were every year during Christmas. And how much we liked this film when we watched it as kids!

TheLittleSongbird Not one of my favourite Christmas specials, but while it is easy to see why it may not work for some it is also just as easy to see why others will love it.'Santa and the Three Bears' did feel a bit padded and over-stretched. Less of the "bears-questioning" scenes, which did get a little repetitive (if admittedly sweet) and a shorter length (do agree that half an hour or a little less would have been more suitable) would have helped.However, the animation is colourful and beautifully drawn and the bookending beginning and ending juxtaposing very nicely. The music is pleasant and tuneful, if perhaps not exceptional.The treacle and syrup in the writing is very high, but it also has a lot of charm and heart and made it easy to relate to the characters. The story is simple, but very sweet and touching, it was difficult to not be moved by it.The bears are incredibly cute, and on the right side of it hopefully, while the voice acting from talented and prolific actors is very good.Overall, not one of the best Christmas specials but not close to being one of the worst. One of the imperfect but underrated ones more like. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Michael_Elliott Santa and the Three Bears (1970) ** (out of 4)Pretty bland animated film has two cubs sneaking out of their den and going to the home of the local forest ranger. Once there the ranger tells them the story of Santa Claus and when they return home they don't want to hibernate because they want to see the Jolly fat man. This causes their mother to get worried because she feels they're just going to be disappointed since there's really no such thing. At 46-minutes this film just goes on way too long and there's really not too many interesting things in it. Yes, the cubs are cute and yes there's a nice message to be had but I think most kids and especially their parents are going to be bored out of their minds. The biggest problem is the running time because there's so much stuff that happens here that could have been edited out without hurting the actual film or its message. We get way too many scenes where the cubs keep asking questions either about Santa or about other things and it just never really drew me into the story. The animation is nice and I thought the vocal performances were good but neither of these are strong enough to make the film worth sitting through.

ClassixFan This holiday special seems to have people split down the middle with loving it and hating it. Chalk me up as one who adores this holiday special. I'm not even sure I can put in words why I enjoy this classic as much as I do, but here goes...When I was a kid, the holiday season brought nothing but wonderful memories and this classic from Hanna-Barbera fits right in with those memories. I've never completely matured as some in my family hoped I might have, so revisiting this holiday classic is something I do every holiday season and often! I enjoy the story, sing along with the tunes and it gives me that all around happy and warm holiday feeling!