The Smurfs' Christmas Carol (1987 short film)

The Smurfs' Christmas Carol is a 1987 American animated featurette produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and released by Paramount Pictures (original USA release), Turner Entertainment (original USA TV distribution), Warner Bros. (DVD and Blu-ray releases and current USA TV distribution), SEPP International S.A. (original international distribution) and Sony Pictures Television (current TV international distribution). It was directed by Ray Patterson and produced by Burny Mattinson. The film ran for 26 minutes and was first released in theatres on December 11, 1987.

Plot
On Christmas Eve, the Smurfs get ready for their Christmas party. Hefty Smurf and Handy Smurf cut down a Christmas tree, and by Christmas evening, they all finish and start to celebrate. Grouchy Smurf refuses to join the party, expressing his hatred towards Christmas. After their Christmas party, all of the Smurfs go to bed and receive a gift from Papa Smurf - a Smurf hat handcrafted by him. Grouchy wakes up to find a present in front of his door.

He opens it and finds a Smurf hat, but not the one he had expected - a hang glider. Grouchy yells at the top of his lungs, "I hate Christmas".

Suddenly, he sees an angel appear, who seems to be Smurfette. She explains to him that she is the Smurf of Christmas Past to teach him a lesson about appreciating Christmas. She shows him a young "Smurfling" receiving a gift, which is a Smurf hat, and how happy the Smurfling was to get it. Then the Smurf of Christmas Present, who is Brainy Smurf, appears and shows how he felt about the gift he had received. He then tells Grouchy that if he doesn’t like Christmas, what will happen is Clumsy Smurf burns the Christmas Tree on accident, but as he puts water, The Tree burns even more. He then tells him to be happy on Christmas.

Then the Smurf of Christmas Future, who appears as Hefty Smurf, shows Grouchy his future. Hefty tells him that if he does not change his ways, all of the Smurfs will wander into the forest and get captured by Gargamel.

Then everything around him goes back to normal, and the Smurfs come and see Grouchy on the Christmas tree decorating it by putting ornaments on it. He yells out to the Smurfs, "Merry Christmas everyone".

Cast

 * Don Messick as Papa Smurf, Azrael
 * Lucille Bliss as Smurfette
 * Michael Bell as Grouchy Smurf, Handy Smurf
 * Frank Welker as Hefty Smurf
 * Danny Goldman as Brainy Smurf
 * William 'Bill' Callaway as Clumsy Smurf, Painter Smurf
 * June Foray as Jokey Smurf
 * Alan Oppenheimer as Vanity Smurf
 * Hamilton Camp as Greedy Smurf, Harmony Smurf
 * Alan Young as Farmer Smurf, Scaredy Smurf
 * Paul Winchell as Gargamel
 * Jonathan Winters as Grandpa Smurf
 * Charlie Adler as Natural 'Nat' Smurfling
 * Pat Musick as Snappy Smurfling
 * Noelle North as Slouchy Smurfling
 * Julie McWhirter as Sassette Smurfling, Baby Smurf (vocal effects)
 * Lennie Weinrib as Bigmouth

Additional Voices

 * Chuck Jones
 * Allan Lurie
 * Hal Smith
 * Will Ryan
 * Miriam Flynn
 * Bob Bergen
 * Mona Marshall
 * Nancy Cartwright

Background
Peyo thought it would be crazy to distribute a featurette under Paramount Pictures after production on "Smurfquest" had been completed for television, but Delporte convinced him to go for it.

Writing
The story was adapted from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and written by Peyo, Yvan Delporte, Len Janson, Chuck Menville, Duane Poole, Tom Swale, Glenn Leopold, Kevin Hopps, Charles M. Howell IV and Earl Kress. Storyboards were done by Bill Littlejohn, Ed Love, Jerry Eisenberg and Irv Spence.

Animation
Much of the animation is handled by Jon McClenahan, Dan Haskett, Kevin Petrilak and Jeff Hall. Gerard Baldwin returns as animation director for the film.

Trivia

 * Because this film starts and ends the classic way, the 1953 Paramount logo was used instead of the current Paramount logo.
 * The short film would be remade later as a direct-to-video short in 2011.
 * The film was remastered in HD 1080p from the original 35mm film elements for its 30th Anniversary on Blu-ray in 2017.
 * Unlike the original Saturday Morning cartoon itself, Grouchy is able to have more spoken dialogue, besides his "I hate (insert here)!" catchphrase. His voice is also noticeably deeper in this film.
 * Compared to the typical underscores in the television show, the featurette has a scene-specific score (much like the Disney and Looney Tunes shorts). The music is composed by Irwin Kostal.