Product Details

• Actors: Sam Elliott, Cloris Leachman, Rutanya Alda, Abe Vigoda, Michael Constantine
• Directors: John D. Hancock
• Writers: Greg Taylor
• Producers: Greg Taylor, Hester Hargett, Mike Petzold, Raffaella De Laurentiis
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Studio: Columbia/Tristar Studios
• VHS Release Date: June 11, 1997
• Run Time: 103 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302090873
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #241,749 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A reindeer doesn't have to fly to be magical to someone, and Prancer succeeds, in its unassuming and plainspoken way, to prove that point. This 1989 family film stars Rebecca Harrell as 9-year-old Jessica, a motherless schoolgirl raised (and largely ignored) by her bereaved and embittered father (Sam Elliot), an apple farmer. While Jessica's dad struggles to keep food on the family table, the little heroine worries over the fate of a wounded reindeer she meets and wistfully identifies as a member of Santa's sled crew. The story may sound overly precious, but the film is grittier and more realistic than that. Far more concerned with wobbly family relationships than gilded escapism, Prancer is a rare family film that can entertain without invoking fluffy enchantment. Followed 12 years later by a sequel, Prancer Returns. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A heartwarming Christmas Story, a must for every family!, January 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Prancer [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Here is a story that brings us all back to what Christmas is all about faith, love, hope, and family. This film tells the story of a young girl, Jessica, that keeps the joyous feeling of Christmas in her heart all year long. Her mother has died and her father is struggling to raise a son and daughter as well as a failing farm. Circumstances seem too much, and he contemplates sending Jessica to live with a nearby aunt. This upsets Jessica because family is as important to her as Christmas, especially as she has already lost one parent. While this is going on, Jessica discovers an injured reindeer, and she needs to help him as "he is one of Santa's ". With an injured reindeer and an injured family, Jessica applies the necessary healing with hope, faith and love. Her true innocence and undying belief in all that is good and wonderful (God and Santa) brings a family and a town together in a joyous celebration.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, January 5, 2001

By 

Barbara Farr Kelley - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prancer [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Prancer is the story of a little girl named Jessie and her love for an injured reindeer whom she believes is Santa's reindeer Prancer. It is a lovely story of faith and love. Jessie has recently lost her mother, and now she and her brother and father are alone. Because crops are failing, her father decides she is to go live with her Aunt Sarah, but Jessie doesn't want that. She proves to her father and everyone around her that she is needed at home with her brother and dad, not with her Aunt Sarah. She further proves the bond between people in a small town and how they stand up for each other in a time of crisis.

Her favorite story is the story of a little girl named Virginia, a true life child who wrote a letter to Santa Claus, and the letter wound up in the hands of a newspaper editor. She wanted to prove there really was a Santa Claus and the newspaper editor said, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus..." This true life story happened around 1900. So when Jessie goes to visit the "helping" Santa Claus at the mall, she tells him to deliver a letter to the "real" Santa, that she has Prancer and that she wants to meet Santa up on a cliff so that Prancer can be reunited with Santa. This letter finds ITS way to a newspaper editor, and before long the entire town knows about this loveable reindeer.

This is a video for children ages 2 to 102, and I give this movie 5 stars for being so entertaining and wonderful, and for bringing tears to my eyes every one of the 100 or more times I've seen it.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly touching, magical journey for the whole family!, November 19, 1999

By 

Shannon Mays - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prancer [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The scenery alone is reason enough to see this movie. The little girl that plays Jessica is a wonderful actress, and I was sorry not to see her in anything after this movie. This is a nice alternative to the sometimes sappy, jello mold movies that tend to come out around the holidays. It is a truly unique story that has been loved in my family since it came out, 8 or so years ago!