Sick of the Peanuts but still want your fix of Christmas specials based on comic strips? Well Lynn Johnston has got your back, whether you know it or not.
For Better or For Worse is a slice-of-life comic strip series created by Lynn Johnston. The series is notable for being played in real time, events in it parallel those in her own life, this sort of concept being rare in something as simple as newspaper comics. Way back I covered an animated series produced in 2000, but it turns out For Better or For Worse had animated adaptations as far back as 1985 in the form of various specials.
This is the first and only For Better or For Worse special to be produced by Atkinson Film-Arts, who you may recognize as being the producer of the second season of Dennis the Menace. From then on we got a few more specials from Lacewood Productions. Funny thing is, those specials and the TV series were all produced in Ottawa, I mean it makes sense as Johnston is from around there.
The Bestest Present was released in Canada on CTV and on HBO in the United States, but saw later airings on Disney Channel.
Interestingly, Johnston's kids portrayed the ones in this, Michael and Elizabeth, and I assume Johnston's... husband? Played a character too. You'd think Johnston would go full circle and voice matriarch Elly Patterson in this, but surprisingly she doesn't. In this she is voiced by Abby Hagyard, who had appeared on various other Ottawa-produced shows like The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin and You Can't Do That on Television. She would voice Elly again in the Lacewood specials but lost out on voicing her in the 2000 series, where she was played by Lynn Mason, a writer of five credits who never acted anywhere else. Funnily again, Hagyard did apparently voice Elly in some episodes, if they were earlier ones I think I've figured it out.
Plot
The schtick behind For Better or For Worse is its use of real world ethics, it's a slice of life affair that happens to occur on Christmas. The film is a bit slow when it comes to a plot, and it feels like things just happen, but at the very least I can expect that for something that's more grounded, divine intervention leading to one learning the truth behind the meaning of Christmas, physical compromise ruining a bear's chance at showing his true feelings, Popeye.
This works because you're not thrust into a fantasy-type setting, where you expect something cool to happen. Like with Bah, Humduck!, where it's a Looney Tunes rendition of A Christmas Carol, and it just feels like a neutered take with Looney Tunes characters inserted.
Going into this, and realizing that actual kids voiced the kids in this, and naturally I felt nervous. But as it turns out... the kids are halfway decent. Aaron Johnston provides a good level of effort to sound natural, and he's bearable to listen to as a result. Kate Johnston as Elizabeth is... okay. Obviously a younger child won't do as well with line reads, but it felt like she was trying her best.
I think this level of effort accounts for the fact that they're related to Lynn, so they have more time to practice. This is another case against Emily Hart, who once more, is related to the people who created Sabrina: The Animated Series, she never gave a shit.
We have that "Meaning of Christmas" spiel that makes up many of these Christmas specials, but the point of conflict is that Elizabeth loses her stuffed bunny, which is a gift from her grandmother. At the very least her father tries to find it, that gap sealed. If you felt his efforts weren't that great, nor was his transparency in sharing the news of his failure, he sings a nice song.
But help for Elizabeth comes in the form of a grumpy janitor, who has to spell out he's down because of his lack of luck on Christmas. At the very least when Hans revealed why Christmas got him down it was brought up in conversation. I just feel this is a forced establishment, especially since the grumpy ones typically make a 180 by the end.
The janitor aspect does come into play as he would have a reason to scope out the store and find Elizabeth's bunny, and apparently he knows it was made by somebody's grandmother. Yeah admittedly the dialog is clunky, but it only applies toward certain characters.
He becomes aware of who the bunny belongs to when Michael wants to file an ad in the paper, and surprisingly Elly is apathetic to the idea. Nobody likes a realist in some cases. The ad is discovered by the janitor, but he feels kids are too spoiled to appreciate anything, so is reluctant to return it, or so we think. It's another instance of clunkiness with no implication the janitor would change his mind.
Elizabeth gets her bunny back and Elly's cynicism fades away as she wants to thank the one responsible for sending it. Must be that Christmas spirit. So this goes for an otherwise simplistic take on the meaning of Christmas, making people happy and being in the company of others. I do like how Elizabeth didn't just give away her bunny, that would've been too obvious.
Michael did promise a reward, but as you'd expect, being with caring people was enough. I didn't expect anything more, so go figure.
Animation
These specials and the 2000 series have maintained consistent art direction, since Johnston's participation comes into play for each of them. This is one of the only specials to utilize the dot eye-look (which is nixed when it comes to more over the top actions, but is comic-strip close.) I personally like the dot-eye look on most characters, and for something out of 1985, it moves fairly well.
It's less dated, and more old school, for a lack of a good explanation.
Overall
The film is fairly simple, but if you're into something like that, this could be a nice break from the constant crop of Christmas specials. It's a slow burn, but it's a bearable one too
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