Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa

Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa is a 2002 CGI television musical holiday television film directed by Colin Slater and produced by Wolf Tracer Studios for The WB network (now The CW). It first aired on November 25, 2002, and continued to air until Christmas of that year. The movie is about a boy named Ricky who gives Nicole, a girl he likes, his teddy bear that his mom gave him before she died. Nicole throws the gift away, but soon comes to realize that Ricky was giving a special piece of him to someone he cared so much for, as she attempts to get the bear back. This film is notorious for its terrible animation quality, and is considered to be one of the worst animated films to air on national television.

Plot

Ricky is a grade school rapper, who has a crush on a girl named Nicole. Ricky cannot give Nicole a fancy and expensive gift, because his family is poor, so he decides to give Nicole a special teddy bear who his mom gave him before she passed away. After school ends the next day, Ricky presents the gift to Nicole, who is disappointed that it was not a high quality gift. She throws it away, and Ricky, now heartbroken, leaves the school. In the meantime, Lenee and Nicole walk by Ricky's house, and Nicole taunts him. Ricky is then shown writing a letter, saying that he still wants Nicole to have a nice Christmas. As he begins to send the letter to the mail, he ends up losing the letter. It then lands on Nicole's yard. Lenee then asks Nicole what she thinks Santa will bring her, to which Nicole laughs and dismisses the notion that Santa is real. Making Lenee mad, the two part ways.

The next day, Lenee is shown to be upset, and her mom tries to cheer her up. Meanwhile, Nicole finally notices Ricky's letter in her yard, and reads it. Realizing what she had done, she teams up with Ricky's best friend Smithy and Lenee to go find it. After being taunted and harassed by some kids from school, they end up finding Ricky's teddy bear in a junkyard. After finding it, Nicole attempts to return it to Ricky, but Ricky gives it back, saying that the gift was from her. Later that day, Lenee is still contemplating her belief in Santa, while her dad tells her that it's what in her heart that matters most. She then is sent to bed for the night.

On Christmas morning, Nicole begins to open her presents and noticed that she received the present that Ricky wanted. She asks to take it to a friend, and she runs to Ricky's house to deliver it. When she gets there, she tells Ricky that Santa made a mistake and that the present she was holding had his name on it. After Ricky opens it, he said he though Nicole didn't believe in Santa, to which Nicole tells Ricky that she did all along.

Later, Lenee has a party with the rest of the Rapsittie Kids, and the movie ends.

Cast

• Walter Emanuel Jones as Ricky
• Paige O'Hara as Nicole
• Jodi Benson as Lenee
• Eddie Driscoll as Smithy
• Jack Angel as Robert
• Nancy Cartwright as Todd
• Mark Hamill as Eric
• Clint Howard as Tug
• Grey DeLisle as Jenna
• Sarina Grant as Ms. Parmington
• J.R Horsting as Zeke
• Bob Machray as the Principal
• Andi Matheny as Debbie
• Sherry Weston as Peg
• Debra Wislon as Great Grandma Fran
• April Winchell as Nana G.G.

Broadcast

The special aired on November 25, 2002, on "The WB" channel affiliates. The special was aired on over 125 of these affiliates in December 2002, as well as it airing on WABC on December 21, 2002.^[1][2]

After the 2002 holiday season, the special was never aired again.

Critical Reception

Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa was heavily panned. Many users on IMDb and the CGISociety forums criticized the poor 3D animation and the terrible plot and dialogue, with many refusing to believe that the special aired on national television.

Legacy

After the end credits, a small teaser for a sequel was shown, entitled "A Bunny's Tail". This special was cancelled, most likely due to the overwhelming negative response to the first.

The movie was considered lost media, as no traces of its existence other than a few forum posts and websites surfaced until the fall of 2015, where the full movie was uploaded to YouTube

References