Christmas on Disc: RiffTrax

Since I'm going to go see their live show next week, I figured I'd get warmed up and watch a little Christmas riffing. So tonight it's Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey.

So imagine a depressing Rudolph ripoff and that's pretty much what you've got. I think Nestor is supposed to be so ugly he's cute. It doesn't work. And instead of catchy little songs, it's more like one verse of the same song between scenes. Country music too, to make sure it appeals to a very specific group.

So it goes, 2000 years ago there's this hideous donkey and his mom. Some Roman guards come to take some animals and end up stealing them when they see Nestor's ears. Shafted out of some money, the stable boy throws Nestor out into the winter night. Thankfully, Mama runs out to keep him warm. And she freezes to death overnight, a tired cliche of every Christmas special.

Then Nestor meets a cherub, why not? Once they get close to Bethlehem, the Cherub backs into Heaven and Nestor is put up for sale and nobody buys him again. I don't want to spoil the whole thing, but two certain people come to buy Nestor for a ride to the city. A sandstorm threatens the whole trip, but then Nestor's crazy ears hear angels and his dead mother who all lead him to the city. Since the city's overcrowded it was Nestor's idea to bring them all to a cozy stable. Look it up. Oh, and Santa, the elves and reindeer show up at the end too.

It's not the greatest RT product they've done. It's only Mike and while he's good, he really shines when working off of someone else. Disembaudio is there for some dialogue, but a grating computer voice doesn't provide for a meaningful conversation during a kid's Christmas special.

It's really seasonal, but so depressing that it'd only bring the holiday down. Trying to ripoff Rudolph while making it more religious makes it a poor example of either side of Christmas. Combine that with the overall weaker product and I save this for a night like tonight. Close to Christmas, but absolutely nothing special and even then, I only watch it because it isn't good enough to qualify for regular viewing.