Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa (2002 TV Movie) User Reviews (68)

What on Earth Happened?

[benjaminburt · 1/10 · 30 November 2017]

This "movie" (and it barely qualifies as such) is incredibly and unbearably incompetent in its animation. Do you know RubberFruit? It's a Youtube Channel that makes animated shorts using sets and character models from video games like Team Fortress 2. Go look them up. Watch like one or two. Yes, now. I'll be waiting.

Oh, you're back? Good. Now, I can honestly say that the animation behind Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa is about 5% as good as RubberFruit. This animation is appallingly horrendous. This TV movie came out 6 whole years after Beast Wars, and manages to look about 40 times worse than that show. The character movements are all uncanny, and there are a ton of animation errors.

I wish I could say that the animation was the only problem, unfortunately, we've only just begun. The writing in this short is absolutely horrendous. The dialogue is on-the-nose, the morals are ham- fisted, and the jokes are all awful.

How about the characters? Nope, they're all awful, too. All of them have cookie-cutter personalities, and they all seem to have the depth of a half-drained kiddie pool. The story? Don't make me laugh. The story is so generic it wouldn't even make it onto Full House. The songs were likewise bland and uninspired. The pacing, the editing, the design, all of it was awful. And how about simple spelling errors? The elementary school board literally reads 'Striving for Excelence (sic)." How can you mess that up?! And the title, Rapsittie Street Kids - why?! It's revealed that they live on Rhapsody Street. Why would you change it to a bizarre spelling? Is it because the main character "raps?" Why not call it Rapsody Street?

I haven't mentioned the voice cast yet, and that's for good reason. This short has a star-studded voice cast, featuring five especially big stars: Jodi Benson (Ariel from The Little Mermaid), Grey DeLisle (Mandy from Grim Adventures), Paige O'Hara (Belle from Beauty and the Beast), Nancy Cartwright (Bart Simpson), and Mark Hamill (The Joker from Batman the Animated Series). These voice-acting giants seem to sleep-walk their way through this movie, and though they weren't bad per se, they didn't do anything to elevate the short.

So, what happened? How does someone manage to make such a horrible piece of junk? I can only assume that the director committed almost all of his budget to his voice cast and was left with no money for animators, writers, editors, or any kind of crew at all, so he went down to the local orphanage and promised some kid that he would adopt him if the kid could help him make a movie. That's what I'm guessing happened.

Can I advise everyone to steer clear of this? Actually, I can't. This film is so hilariously bad. It is honestly a total riot. I could not stop laughing during this short. Oh, and the memes? Yeah, this movie totally deserves meme status. Who could forget Great-Grandma's famous monologue at about the 20-minute mark?

Great-Grandma: "eokkvvaskidoriiaskdvfornevudit,"

Black Rapper Kid: "Isn't that what Santa does? It was from my heart"

GG: "tch, uh, tchtchtchsee uh uh wdelei eisideiflabskpoeeinow,"

BRK: "She doesn't get it!"

GG: "Oh, seefadgtnodnfgChristmasss ohoho!"

Yeah, as terrible as this movie is, it's hysterical. So, yeah, I'd recommend it.

Could it be the worst Christmas special ever?

[Costashead · 1/10 · 21 December 2002]

If this is ever actually replayed on television again, don't miss your chance to see one of the worst Xmas specials ever. From the cheesy voiceovers, to the appalling 3D animation, this production is so awful, it's a christmas miracle that it even exists. Groove to the "Rapsittie" kids busting some phat rhymes, like:

"I'm a decorating master, no one is faster, don't you know, I'm a christmas tree blaster!"

I guess kids will watch anything, but I would try to steer my kids clear of this steaming piece of festivity. On the other hand, drunk adults may find it quite enjoyable. Ho ho ho!

What the...

[Rectangular_businessman · 1/10 · 24 December 2015]

Oh dear.

This...This might be the worst Christmas special special I've seen in my entire life. This might sound hyperbolic but it's not: "Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa" is terrible in every possible way.

For starters, the animation seems even worse than the one from movies like "Delgo" or "Foodfight". Hell, even the CGI used in the "Money for Nothing" video looks like something done by Pixar compared with this. At least that music video can be justified taking in consideration that it was done in the 80s. This was done in the 2002, and it looks more primitive than stuff like ReBoot.

While the dreadful animation might be the most notorious flaw from this cringe worthy special, the truth is that the writing and characterization isn't exactly something stellar either...In fact, if this would have done with a somewhat more-professional looking animation, "Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa" would be still pretty bad, due the bland and forgettable characters, dull plot and bad songs. You have people like Nancy Cartwright and Mark Hamill voicing some characters, yet they are not able to save the complete mess this movie is... (And honestly, they sounded a bit unmotivated in their respective roles, but honestly, who could blame them)

And to think this actually aired on TV. The early 2000s were truly dark times for animation...

0/10 (But while I think it's absolutely horrid, I guess that laughably bad CGI gives it a certain entertainment value...I guess that in a way, we could say this equivalent of stuff like "Birdemic" for animated movies)

I just can't.....

[lordanidem · 1/10 · 6 December 2017]

Words... There are no words....

This is some mid 90's, college level CG garbage.

This makes Food Fight look like high art.

I an having a hard time filling the minimum words as there is nothing good to say. It is like a first cut story layout that was recovered from a studio going bankrupt during production.

Worst Christmas Special Ever

[DannyD1997 · 1/10 · 21 March 2017]

Why did this need to exist. I have seen people give bad reviews on this, and I can see why. This is the only special that is WORSE than the 1991 Christmas Tree special. This special is so horrible to watch. The animation's horrible, the songs make no sense, the characters all look incredibly hideous, and it never made me laugh at all. I wish I was making this special up, but I'm not. Why does this special have talented actors and actresses like Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Luke Skywalker from the original Star Wars films??!! This literally aired on the WB. Why does this need to exist??!! This special is rather.......no. Just..... no. Why does the WB need to air this??!! I hate this special so much. You think Buddy's Musical Christmas is the worst Christmas special of all time??!! I don't think so. THIS is a million times worse. STAY AWAY FROM THIS SPECIAL IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!!!

Grandma be like

[brynnalexism · 16 July 2020]

GshsjdpakdkankqlfaurariakfzfskraiauraruaursjrsjyrjajyrjajtaktajrakffskajjrajJv bxbxgzktsriarskgsktsk

...How DARE they get such brilliant actors to work in this travesty!?

[davidjgdoylevoices · 1/10 · 28 November 2017]

I... I am beyond confused.

I am confused about how ANYONE in this production team thought that the animation was passable, let alone good enough to be shown on television. This is quite possibly the worst CGI I have ever seen and I have seen "Food Fight"-Hell it makes "Food Fight" look like "Inside Out" it is that atrocious!

I am confused about how anyone could think the script was good enough in general. At best: Completely generic. At worst: Very bland, even aggravating at times.

What confuses me the most... is how. HOW did they get some of the greatest actors in the business? Paige O'Hara, Jodi Benson, Grey DesLisle, Nancy Cartwright and the very underrated (and underused) Walter Jones to name a few, but the cherry on this cake: Mark Hamill... How DARE they get such brilliant actors to work in this travesty!?

The only thing I can think of is that all the budget went to getting these big name actors and they only had five cents left for everything else.

Just... Watch the reviews about this garbage. Save yourself the effort.

lf you want a movie to make fun of

[bananarocket24 · 1/10 · 14 October 2015]

Well, here it is. l was in disbelief this movie was even a real production. The quality of this animation is so bad, a highschooler could literally do a better job than whoever godawful company produced this. The plot is stupidly generic and too hard to pay attention to because of how horribly composited the 3D was in the movie. Not to mention how bad the models look and all the animation. A Christmas special that no one should ever have to watch, if you want a movie to make fun of, please by all means, watch this movie. l only made it 20 minutes before l questioned the meaning of my life and what l was doing with it.

Felt so wrong but felt so right

[brianobrain · 1/10 · 5 December 2019]

This is a masterpiece of bad animation. A magnum opus of insanity. As I watched this I knew it was horrible. But that didn't stop me from enjoying it. I laughed my rear off when watching Grandma malfunction like a Tyler Perry's Medea robot was dropped in water and short circuiting. Ricky's rapping was heinous to listen to but I couldn't help by laugh it. His desperate attempts to win over a shallow girl like Nicole reminded me of the Room. Both Ricky and Tommy Wiseau's character Johnny are pursuing the affections of women who don't respect them but they do it never the less simply because they have a thing from shallow, attractive blondes. This is a train wreck a beautiful train wreck. Watch this movie if you want to experience what a remake of A Charlie Brown Christmas would look like if it was directed by Tommy Wiseau and Ed Wood.

just terrible

[plumyman · 1/10 · 1 December 2017]

terrible music, terrible cgi, terrible editing, this has it all, however I would recommend it because it's hilarious, And I never thought I would say this but it managed to be worse than the Christmas tree,I never thought That was possible but it managed, seriously though, it's up for free on YouTube, watch it.

An abomination in every sense of the word (0/10)!

[Johnny-the-Film-Sentinel-2187 · 1/10 · 7 December 2017]

Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe In Santa makes the Star Wars Holiday Special look like Vertigo or Citizen Kane! This special was, get this, made in 2002; and it looks like it was done with pre-ReBoot animation software. Hell the animation's SO bad that it makes Foodfight's animation look like something from a Dreamworks film.

The voice acting is the only thing about this film that seems to have any semblance of quality to it; and even then the script is horrible just like everything else here. I love my Christmas specials, but THIS... this is such an abomination that I don't want to even consider it one. It's just a piece of trash that was made and had Christmas added to it to try and make it REMOTELY marketable! Well guess what? It failed in doing that! Big time!

DON'T WATCH THIS 'AWFUL' MOVIE!

I met God when I watched this

[elizabethmccuen · 10/10 · 18 July 2019]

I thought i knew art. I thought i understood what being creative meant. Before I experienced this film, I thought art was an attempt by the universe to understand itself. Now I know that to be true. I can't believe humanity had to go 12,000 years without witnessing this cinematic masterpiece. Before, life was a void, dark and meaningless. Now, that void has been filled with blissful joy. I will never watch another movie. After I publish this review, I will glue my eyes shut so I will never have to see another lesser piece of art. Forget Citizen Kane, I only know Rapsittie Street Kids. You thought 1984 captured the struggles of the human psyche. You thought it grappled with the emotional distraught of love and existentialism. You thought wrong.

So many Great Voice Actors and Voice-Actress in Horrible Thing

[jonglass111 · 6/10 · 3 January 2018]

I never knew this exist unit recently watching it. It has great voice-actors and voice-actress in it but The plot, animated, everything is truly horrible in it. At the end of Believe in Santa. It talked about a sequel to it. Thank god that never happened.

It is close to unwatchable

[Horst_In_Translation · 2/10 · 9 December 2017]

"Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa" is an animated short film from 2002, so this one has its 15th anniversary this year. The writer and director is Colin Slater and I must say I am not surprised to see he has not made a new film in over 10 years and the fact that these slightly over 40 minutes were his very first film do only work as an excuse to an extent that comes nowhere near close to explaining this one. I was worried early on with the title and social background of the characters that everybody was really rapping from start to finish, but luckily this is not the case. But there are enough other flaws. The voice acting is not good, even worse than the already pretty generic plot and story that never evokes any real emotions. But the worst aspect here is the animation that looks so so bad. Sorry to the animators, I hope you managed to improve in the last 1.5 decades, but it really is on a level that gives you eye cancer. There is no denying and it is such a massively negative deal breaker. But it's really not the only flawed aspect here. If you perceive any of the other struggles as tolerable, then this is just the case because they are not as bad as the looks. So overall a massive thumbs-down for this one here. Definitely skip it, not even worth checking out during the holiday season.

I can't...

[trentowilson · 13 August 2018]

Imagine "FoodFight!","the Room", and "the Christmas Tree" got together and produced a spawn that in itself is a combination of all these films... that film would be MUCH better than anything this crapshow had to offer. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!

Worst CGI Movie Ever!

[darthvader-30865 · 1/10 · 3 January 2017]

Oh my god. This has worse CGI than the Money for Nothing music video by the Dire Straights. I never thought CGI would get worse than Dorbees, which came out in 1998, when this came out in 2002. For a long time, I thought the Groovenians was the worst CGI cartoon of 2002, until the Mysterious Mr. Enter showed me THIS! Jimmy Neutron came out the same year, and Shrek came out a year before! This looks like a bad N64 game and I'm DEAD SERIOUS! AND MARK HAMIL IS IN THIS? NANCY CATWRIGHT TOO? I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY WERE CAST IN THIS PILE OF CRAP! This looks like it's from the 80's! Seriously! This is the bottom of the barrel for CGI! Overall rating: 0/10. 1 is just too much.

Why Was This Special Even Made?

[D_Burke · 1/10 · 26 December 2020]

"Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa" is a TV special that is so bad, there is absolutely nothing redeeming about it. Every single thing about this special, from the inexcusably half-baked animation to the meandering and unfocused story to the awkward and clumsy dialogue, makes absolutely no sense.

If this film was made by a first semester animation student as a final project, it would be serviceable and might deserve a passing grade. After all, animators have to start somewhere.

However, it wasn't one person who made this film. Several adults worked on it, and someone at the WB! Network in 2002 apparently thought it was good enough to air in prime time with potentially millions of Americans being able to see it. Either that, or a disgruntled WB! employee wanted to get themselves fired.

Why did this special air on American television even once? Who wrote it? Why did they write it? What caused so many experienced and celebrated voice actors such as Mark Hamill, Nancy Cartwright, Jodi Benson and others to appear in it? Was the special even finished, or intended to be finished?

I don't know the answers to any of these questions. I do know that there was a potentially good story within the muddle of too many supporting characters, stupid dialogue, and animation that is so atrocious that no one could possibly take it seriously, or even want to watch it.

The title of the special doesn't even make sense. It's called "Rapsittie Street Kids", which, judging from the way the nonexistent word "Rapsittie" sounds, would lead most viewers to assume that it is about a group of kids who are from the city and love rap music. I suppose that "Rapsittie" also sounds like "Rhapsody", but putting together the words "Rhapsody" and "Street" wouldn't make a lot of sense either, or attract an audience of children at which this special was presumably aiming.

Instead, the special takes place in what looks like an affluent suburb. Plus, only one character, an optimistic dreadlocked boy named Rick E. (voiced by Walter "the original black Power Ranger" Jones), actually raps, or at least speaks in rhyme.

Rick E. is evidently the only black student in his school. You learn that his parents died and that he's living with his grandmother, but that's about it. It would have been nice to know where he lived before moving in with his grandmother, and the fact that he appears to be the only African-American boy in a largely white neighborhood is a solid foundation for a potentially good story.

Rick E. also apparently has a crush on a rich girl in his class named Nicole, voiced by Paige O'Hara, best known for voicing Belle in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast". While O'Hara is a fine voice actress, it makes no sense at all that her character is supposed to be no older than a freshman in high school, yet she's voiced by a 46-year-old woman!

Anyway, Rick E. wants to give her a present for Christmas, but doesn't have the money to do so. So he decides to give her a teddy bear that his late mother gave to him years ago.

While Rick E. seems like a sweet boy, and his gift is evidently well-intentioned, any semblance of redeemable qualities you can extract from this special are lost when you hear the odd dialogue Rick E. says to himself out loud when coming to this decision. When deciding to give Nicole his beloved bear, he says (and yes, this is verbatim what words Walter Jones speaks for his character), "Momma, you gave me this bear cuz of love. So I'll give this bear cuz of love."

Obviously, an actor who is fluent in English read this line. I highly doubt the person who wrote it spoke English as a first language. The previous line reads like the writer entered a sentence in English, translated it on Google into Spanish, then translated those Spanish words into Arabic, then translated those words into Dutch, then to Japanese, then Swahili, then French, then finally back to English.

However, that clunky English dialogue is nothing compared to listening to Rick E.'s Great Grandma, voiced (allegedly) by Debra Wilson. For some reason, you can't understand a single word she says. Her character moves around like a robot, and speaks like a malfunctioning one. I know that Wilson is a funny actress, but I couldn't tell if, like Kenny in "South Park" or Groot from "Guardians of the Galaxy", she was intentionally speaking gibberish and it was supposed to be funny.

If it was supposed to be funny, it didn't work. Nothing in this special works, and I didn't even begin to scratch the surface of the things that are wrong with it.

Some people say that bad movies are best for remaking, not good movies. I think that's absolutely true, and "Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa" is a candidate for a story worth remaking.

As this special stands, it is horrible. Everything about it is awful, and children, if given the choice, would rather be gifted a box of coal for Christmas than this movie on DVD, and who could blame them?

Fortunately, this movie never saw a DVD release, and probably never will. It only aired once on TV, and earned notoriety thanks to internet purveyors of horrifically bad movies and TV shows. I suppose "Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa" must be seen to be believed, but you may wish to un-see even five seconds of the horrific animation, and that's just for starters.

Great voice cast, terrible animation.

[Java_Joe · 1/10 · 26 December 2017]

The Rapsitte Street Kids is a bit of an enigma. They suddenly appeared one Christmas back in 2002 and nobody seems to have heard of them. It had a lot people doing voices that you may recognize like Mark Hamil, Bart Simpson, the girl that played Ariel in "The Little Mermaid", the girl that played Belle in "Beauty and the Beast" and the original Black Ranger from "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers". But maybe they went a little over budget on getting these big name actors to voice their product because it sure doesn't show up that way on screen.

It fact this looks more like an animatic. You know a set up for what the show is going to look like but they're eventually going to smooth it out and apply things like actual fluid motion, expressions and other things that we expect to see in cartoons.

What I'm trying to say is, the animation in this is possibly the worst I've ever seen. This is worse than Food Fight! No, I'm not kidding. Food Fight! actually had semi-fluid animation and backgrounds, and a who's who of C list entertainers. But they still managed to make a better looking product.

There are animation mistakes galore. From the fact that nobody moves properly. They can't properly animate a walk cycle. They can't show emotions. They can't show movement, Things are too slow and physics don't seem to exist. There's also a guy who holds onto the same sandwich for practically the entire movie. Not wrapped up or in a bag. No. The actual sandwich is in his had from the start to almost the end even though he's walking through school. playing outside and searching through the garbage. It's incomprehensible but it plays an important part later on in the special.

So no. Unless you have a morbid fascination with the horrible and the strange, give this one a pass.

I want death

[scoop_slinger · 1/10 · 12 December 2017]

This is the worst movie I have ever seen. It looks like John Lasseter's crap stuffed into washing machine that got aborted. I have never seen anything worse. The animation is hideous, the story makes no since and freaking MARK HAMILL IS IN THIS!!!!!! The songs are annoying and the scene with the grandma where she says "fbrgekfvrgkba" (or other random s***) makes me think humanity is doomed. Over all, this movie is so ugly, dumb and just plain ridiculous you have to see it to believe it. But if you do see it, make sure you are nowhere near anything you can kill yourself with. I can only end this review the same awful way the movie ended: Shut that door!

Worst Movie of All Time!

[gavinwrivera · 1/10 · 26 August 2017]

This movie is horrible. I love Christmas, but this movie ruined it. The animation is really bad. It looks like something from Imaginaria or any 3D animation from the early '90s. How is the average rating 1.5? It should be 0.4, because this movie is really really really bad. The movie is so hard to sit through and watch. I tried to watch it, and I stopped watching it at the halfway mark, because it was so bad. It was probably trying to be good, but ugh! It looks like they weren't. Now, Christmas is ruined!

Cheaper then a dollar store barbie rip-offs

[jf-42973 · 1/10 · 30 September 2018]

Imagen if Microsoft Paint made CGI movies in 1940 then you got a movie with the budget of bootlegged Pokémon Go toys but yet had amazing voice actors. A moment of silence for the poor people who had to voice any character in this 6 feet under the barrel movie.

Perfect movie if you hate Christmas and want to make it worse.

[joseignacioyootube · 1/10 · 22 December 2023]

Honestly, I have no idea what happened here, this has to be the animated movie with the worst animation I have ever seen, and isn't even close. Seriously, Foodfight and The Little Cars? Visual masterpieces in comparison.

A semi decent plot could have award at least a 2/10, but is horrible on all aspects and maybe even more sinful than the animation (yikes) terrible dialogue, characters are devoid of anything, awful pacing, I wanna know where the HALF A MILLION dollars went, because to this proyect certainty weren't.

To summarize, this is easily the WORST Christmas movie I have ever seen, and among my bottom 5 movies overall. Is just that bad.

I orgasmed just watching it

[alexbulcock · 10/10 · 19 January 2021]

Just simple watching this movie isn't enough to see the true beauty and bliss this masterpiece beholds. I touched gods hand just from the first second of the flick. The fact that this has a 1.4 rating is worthy of a death sentence. I blew my load just hearing the soothing voices like melting butter down my throat. This movie, no... this masterpiece is the equivalent of black tar heroin. You're not a true movie buff until your eyes aren't bleached by its beauty.

To put it simple the rays of heaven projecting onto your unworthy flesh will send you straight into a coma if you aren't ready for absolute bliss. 11/10

A genuinely enjoyable little film.

[jettclark · 7/10 · 25 December 2015]

Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa is definitely a hard sell. The animation is bogus, the music is weird, and the story is at times incoherent. On the other hand, taken as a whole, the plot is charming, the characters are fun (and well acted!) and the strange animation works to create a fascinating world.

The resounding message of the film can be found in its title: Believe in Santa. While not exactly profound, if you approach it from the perspective of the experience of Christmas, and of being in this uniquely comforting CGI realm, then Rapsittie Street Kids can be understood primarily as a feeling more than anything else. If anything, it's like a dream about Christmas.

It's a hard movie to say anything about, largely because going into the details seems a bit like missing the point. What are you supposed to say? The grandmother talks funny? The bullies are rude? The toilet in the junkyard is cool? There's no point in breaking the movie down, because you either enjoy it as a cohesive whole or not at all.

If you're like me, and you enjoy quiet CG spaces, this is a movie you're bound to enjoy. If not, you may join the ranks of hecklers who have found another reason to appreciate the movie. Either way, it's worth a visit to Rapsittie Street Kids Ville or whatever.

I AM NOT WATCHING THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jakepoore-98411 · 1/10 · 25 September 2018]

This is extremely ugly and terrible and it looks horrible i could make better art you know i want to and also this is so ugly and it sounds cliche