A Christmas Carol for Annie

Following the moral-packed adventures of ‘tweens Zach and Annie and their anthropomorphic forest creature friends, this entry from the animated Adventures from the Book of Virtues series—based on the book by former U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett—features a two-part episode inspired by the classic holiday novella A Christmas Carol. Annie's commercially-driven desire to mount a newfangled (involving aliens!) stage version of Dickens' tale clashes with the wishes of the rest of the drama club. Annie's humbug-ish behavior—she doesn't even want to give local orphans a free preview of the play!—leads to dreams of herself as Scrooge, after which she learns the true meaning of the holidays. Also included are three bonus stories: “Rocking Horse Land,” “Old Mr. Rabbit's Thanksgiving,” and a solid adaptation of O. Henry's “The Gift of the Magi.” Although sparsely animated, this uplifting program (which also includes Spanish-dubbed content) is recommended. Aud: P. (J. Williams-Wood)