Watch The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold For Free

Such a frustrating disappointment

Great Film overall

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

In this 25-minute short film from the holidays almost 35 years ago, you don't get any snow, but you get lots of green fields, funny little gnomes, not so funny evil creatures and lots of gold. "The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold" is another Rankin/Bass movie and writer Romeo muller should also be known to animation lovers for his contributions to Christmas-themed films. I thought the movements in here were sometimes a bit abrupt and this film did not flow as smoothly as I hoped, but it's still a decent watch. The story is okay and the animation is as well once you got used to the style. And it's also maybe worth a watch for being pretty different compared to other Christmas cartoons from around that era. Actually, you can watch this one very nicely in the other months of the year too. I recommend it. No greatness, but solid from start to finish, liked the Irish accents too.

Cute, lesser known Rankin/Bass animated Christmas special has Art Carney narrating the tale of a sailor sent to fetch a pine tree from an Irish island which broke apart from its native country thanks to an earthquake. It has a leprechaun named Blarney Kilakilarney (voiced also by Carney) who has been away from his wife for far too long due to his insistence on keeping his gold stash from the clutches of a hideous witch (called a banshee) that shrieks and always cries tears. She must get her hands on the gold before Christmas day or turn into tears and through whatever tricks or spells she can muster will attempt to do so. Dinty Doyle, the boy sailor (voiced by Ken Jennings), is told he is in possession of all the gold when Blarney is able to outsmart Old Mag, the Hag's (Christine Mitchell) enchantment (a "generosity spell" she calls it)…she intended for him to give it all to her but Dinty thankfully was in the same vicinity. So Mag sets her sights on tricking Dinty and might just get the gold she has so coveted…like she did against Faye (Peggy Cass), the wife of Blarney (causing their estrangement), through the transformation into an angel, Mag will turn into a shipwrecked girl in the hopes of fooling Dinty into granting her his gold for a special Christmas island celebration. Good natured and sweet, The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold should be a perfect addition to the many Christmas animated specials that makes the cut during the holiday season. A few songs, the typically fine stop motion you are accustomed to for a Bass/Rankin production, and some memorable voiceovers provide a nice little short to enjoy each December. Dinty was responsible for accidentally releasing Mag from a trap concocted by Blarney and a wizard using the aforementioned pine tree, noticed by Dinty's captain on board their ship, adding a bit of irony to the entire short. Will Dinty be able to help stop her from seizing upon the gold?

I say this not because I dislike the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials- I actually love them- but because when people talk about the specials(on IMDb and off) The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold has often been described as their worst. While there is a few I still have to re-watch and while it is not as terrible as others have said, I do have to agree that generally The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold is a lesser effort of theirs. Of course it has its redeeming qualities. I do think the visuals, a mix of conventional animation and stop-motion puppetry, are terrific, with great detail and some good atmosphere. The music is not the most inspired of the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials there is(overall Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer has the best songs), but the scoring has some nice amounts of whimsy and the songs are memorable particularly Christmas in Killarney. Golden Gold of Ireland is also quite rousing. Art Carney does a wonderful job also as Blarney, joining the vast list of big Hollywood names filling the narrator roles for a Rankin/Bass Christmas special. Where The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold doesn't score so favourably is in the story. I do think the length was far too short to begin with, but as well as feeling rushed the whole time, the story does suffer from trying to cram in too much, under-developing what's there and from a lack of heart, feeling too mean-spirited sometimes. While I admired the animation, the camera shot quality on occasions doesn't give us enough time to breathe and really take in what we're seeing. The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold does have some of the least inspired writing of the specials, it lacks the poignancy of Little Drummer Boy, the charm of Frosty the Snowman and the wit of Santa Claus is Coming to Town, in short it just felt too bland and drab. The characters didn't engage me, the banshee is unbearably annoying and the leprechauns are characterised in a very stereotypical and potentially offensive way. Of the voice acting, only Carney really makes an impression, the others don't really distinguish themselves. Overall, didn't hate it but for Rankin/Bass an unfortunate disappointment. A fellow Rankin/Bass fan said that St Patricks Day and Christmas don't mix together and after seeing The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold I can see where he was coming from. 4/10 Bethany Cox

This is a cute movie about friendship and loyalty.One does have to understand the myth and history about the Banshee to understand that the leprechaun can not give her the gold. It takes a brave man to stand alone while others turn their backs on you. This movie has a great moral to never give up on ones self and ideals just because the crowd is telling you to doing so. My family and I enjoyed the songs and made a night out of watching claymation Christmas movies. This was a great one to laugh at and enjoy. Other movies that a person may enjoy are Rudolh the red nose reindeer, Santa Claus is coming to town. The year Santa Missed.