Twas the Night Before Easter Retreads The Star of Christmas

It took VeggieTales, the popular Christian series of computer-animated videos, more than a decade to come out with a tale dealing with Easter. Seven years later, they tackle the all-important holiday again with ’Twas the Night Before Easter. I presume that the main reason they went with that title was because the first Easter video, An Easter Carol, is so clearly modeled after A Christmas Carol. But VeggieTales already has four Christmas videos, not to mention a couple of Christmas albums; bringing hints of Christmas into this second Easter story seems a little excessive.

An Easter Carol is a sequel to The Star of Christmas, the Victorian-era Christmas special that ushered in a new, more cinematic approach to Veggie videos. ’Twas the Night Before Easter includes counter-top scenes at the beginning and end and a silly song in the middle, elements missing from those videos, and the setting is modern-day, but what it mostly feels like to me is a retread of The Star of Christmas. It’s in many ways the same story plucked down in a different setting.

Our main character this time around is Marlee, played by Petunia, the rhubarb who has become quite the leading lady of late. As usual, her character enjoys a close friendship with a decent chap portrayed by Larry the Cucumber. Here, she’s a news reporter and he’s her cameraman, but she decides to abandon her job and make a fresh start as a theater producer in hopes of saving the derelict little theater nestled next to the town’s homeless shelter, and her right-hand man soon follows, offering his services as a songwriter. As in Star, then, Larry’s character spends much of the video puzzling over lyrics and trying to write a hit.

Marlee wants to put on a splashy musical because she believes in the power of theater to change lives. Well-to-do Prescott E. Huddlecoat, portrayed by uptight British asparagus Archibald, has plans to tear down the theater and build a playground in its place, but he agrees to offer a reprieve if Marlee can prove that the theater will be profitable. Her enthusiasm knows no bounds, but she’s not too thrilled with her crop of aspiring performers. What she needs is a real star. The good news is that her town has one. The bad news is that she’s booked. Can Marlee convince her to take part in her show the night before Easter when she has to be up early to sing at the sunrise service the next morning?

Like Star, this video involves a lavish and silly theatrical production competing with a humble church service expected to draw a big crowd because of an unusual component. It includes a wacky inventor whose crazy contraption gets the main characters to the church in time for said service. Even though it’s Easter, it’s snowing like crazy, so it looks more like Christmas (not that I haven’t experienced a white Easter or two in my time). Other recycled elements include a theater in flames and a scene of helping the disenfranchised – in prison in Star, in a homeless shelter in this. It’s still entertaining, but there definitely seems to be a certain lack of originality at play here.

The overall tone of the video is fun and chaotic, with lots of zany action and an extended spoof on American Idol and America’s Got Talent in the form of references to a show called America’s Got British Judges, as well as the largely disastrous auditions. The American Idol theme is a retread, too, from the album The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree, though Archibald is the only one of the three judges who participates in both, and my guess is that many people who watch the videos haven’t heard the CDs. I’ll admit I’m one of those folks who’s followed those shows, especially American Idol, fairly faithfully. Hence, these jokes did get a smile out of me, especially when I realized that the big star in question, Cassie Cassava, is voiced by Melinda Doolittle, my favorite contestant from American Idol’s sixth season. Still, it contributes to the general silliness of the episode that is so pervasive, the message almost gets lost in the shuffle.

The Silly Song – or, more accurately, the Latest Dance Craze – has a superficial Easter connection in that the French peas who lead the segment don bunny slippers and ears for the Hoparena. This is a rather frenzied number that reminds me I need to pull out my VeggieTales dance party videogame again, and it’s fun to see Archibald get a little goofy for a change. Still, I wouldn’t rank it very high on my list of favorite Silly Songs; it’s another one that is entertaining to watch but not very sing-along-able. And it’s another part of the episode in which bunnies predominate. They’re almost as omnipresent here as in Rack, Shack and Benny, which is set in a chocolate bunny factory – and we even hear a snippet of the notorious Bunny Song. We have lots of references to eggs and jelly beans, too.

While An Easter Carol is one of the most serious episodes in the Veggie line, this is one of the silliest, and while we do get to see part of an Easter service – and hear not only the big anthem with Cassie but a traditional hymn that has been part of most Easter services I’ve attended – the balance seems off. Additionally, while I applaud the call to serve others as Jesus served, I’m not sure an Easter video is the best occasion for that focus. It seems to be almost glossing over what Jesus did do to rush ahead into what Jesus would do.

I still enjoyed the video, and longtime fans will have fun picking up on allusions to past episodes as well as noting pop culture nods. But there’s a difference between dropping a reference and recycling your own plotline, and most longtime fans will probably pick up on that too, and they’ll also realize that this isn’t the best Easter special VeggieTales has to offer.