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Lack of good storyline.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Somewhere in the middle of this movie, our main character is in a bind in a mail truck. Looking around, she finds a package, addressed to her, that helps get her out of it. The sender? Deus ex Machina. It is quite common for children's movie makers, especially in the animated genre, to try to be modern, hip - to push the limits of their audience. The results are usually just vulgar - anyone who ever watched 8 Crazy Nights, regardless of their opinions on the rude, contrived piece - can't help but wonder if it is appropriate for all children, at least those whose behavior we have to live with. Olive is witty, funny, and original, and yet there is no smart- alecky kid, no fart jokes - it's interesting because it's tightly written, well-crafted, and voiced by excellent people. Several people have written about Ms. Barrymore's voice in it - it's laughable to imply that she had meant to create a refined, beautiful sound, as well as a bit sexist. No one questioned that Dan Castellaneta (read: Homer Simpson) also sings an off-key silly song - but Drew Barrymore is compared to Alicia Keys? No, if a Dog - no, a dog who was eager, sweet, and unflappably lovable - had a speaking and singing voice, hers would be it. Altogether, I can think of no modern Christmas or holiday special (Martini, Olive's penguin friend, is Jewish, somehow), that succeeds in being warm, smart, and interesting all at the same time. There is no preaching, no moralizing, and yet, it leaves you feeling good about being good, almost the same way the Charlie Brown Christmas Special did just over 40 years ago. There's a fine line between sappy and sweet, rude and witty - Olive the Other Reindeer stands firmly on the good side of that line.

A little puppy named Olive hears a radio broadcast about a mishap with one of Santa's reindeer, which threatens to cancel his annual nighttime deliveries, and somehow thinks she can and/or should help, by becoming "the other reindeer." Teamed-Up with a Penguin, and chased by a demented postal worker, they runaway to the North Pole to take the place of Santa's ill-fated reindeer. No, this was not written by Matt Groening, but you'd think it was especially if you've ever read some of his "Life in Hell" comic strips. Most of the jokes revolve around mondegreens, like the title as well as "Richard Stands"(from the USA's Pledge of Allegiance.), and "Round John Virgin(from "Silent Night."). Round-John Virgin and crew are found by Olive and her pal at an arctic roadside bar & grille, and almost get in a fight.Like many modern Christmas specials such as "Beavis and Butt-head Do Christmas" from four years earlier, it puts new spins on traditional folklore that almost threaten to contradict everything we were taught as children. However this special retains the child-like innocence of Christmas specials produced by Rankin-Bass in the 1960's and '70's. People born before the baby boom might be intimidated by the post-punk, and other contemporary references, but that shouldn't stop the rest of us from enjoying it. It's as safe for the kids as it is hip and enjoyable for us.

I missed the end of this film! I'm so upset. Now I'll never know if Olive succeeded in saving Christmas. There I was, Christmas Eve, sitting on the couch, flicking channels, waiting for my ride to turn up. A long night of drinking and general carousing awaited. Suddenly I was tuned into Channel 4 and watching a streetwise penguin trying to sell fake designer watches to a talking dog. Well, it happens every day, doesn't it?So anyway, I could talk about plot, like that matters, and I could go on about how funny it was, or how heart warming, but would you really care? Would you? Let me just say this, I was utterly charmed the gloriously flat CGI characters in a totally unique 3D universe. And despite what some of the other reviewers have said, I found Drew Barrymore's characterisation absolutely perfect. Barrymore's squeaky little confused voice was the delightful embodiment of this dopey, self-deluding dog. A dog who manages to convince herself that Santa, after a minor Pre-Christmas Reindeer incident, was relying on 'Olive, the Other Reindeer' and NOT the 'all of the other reindeer' he actually refers to.How could you not love this film?Just thinking about it now, I feel certain that Olive must have helped Santa save Christmas. If she didn't, where did all those presents come from this morning? I was certainly in no fit state to help out.

The animation in "Olive, the Other Reindeer" is truly impressive. The unique style of J. Otto Seibold has been captured in a most beautiful way by the animators at DNA Productions in Dallas. Most people don't realise that "Olive" is a three dimensional animated special, yet it manages to carry the traditional charm and warmth of any classic 2D holiday cartoon.