🦌🎄 Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer (2000)

Let’s start by showing y’all the trailer 📽️

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🎵 The Song That Started It All

Before we get into the “movie” (and I use that term loosely), let’s talk about the origins. This film is based on the novelty Christmas song “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” — a darkly satirical holiday track about a grandma who drinks way too much eggnog (oh, I bet she did) and goes out into a snowstorm to “get her meds” … only to get run over by Santa and his reindeer. The kicker? The family either doesn’t notice or pretends not to care, and grandpa’s also drunk. Uplifting stuff, right?

Here’s the kicker: the original song is under three minutes long. Yet somehow, someone (and I’d really like to know what they were smoking) thought it was a great idea to stretch it into a 51-minute animated TV special. How? Answer: they barely did.

BTW here’s the full song, enjoy?

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Non-Spoiler Plot Rundown

The story centers on the Spankenheimer family — yes, that’s their actual last name. Sounds like a name someone made up on the spot after three cups of spiked cocoa. Grandma runs a small general store in town, but her greedy cousin Mel wants to sell it to a mega-corporation. There’s also a courtroom subplot about legal rights to the store (because nothing says “Christmas joy” like property law).

Jake Spankenheimer, Grandma’s grandson, is our main protagonist, determined to save Grandma and the store after she mysteriously vanishes on Christmas Eve. Also, Quincy the elf — yes, that’s really his name — shows up to “help” … but unintentionally gives off some major creepy vibes.

Also Mel’s lawyer? Yeah her name is slime. Why? What sorta name is slime? Well, easy it’s just there for a joke where Jake says u said it I didn’t.

Then just stands there and I guess waits for the audience to laugh, because that joke was just so funny? Spoilers it wasn’t funny.

Also, Mel is over sexualized, I mean when when she and Mr. Buckworth are about to finish the deal on buying her Grandma’s business, she literally says how about we go somewhere romantic and consummate this deal.

What!?


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Final Thoughts 💭

I don’t know how this thing exists, but it does. It’s one of those “were y’all high when you made this?” productions. The pacing is awkward, the humor falls flat, and the story feels padded even at under an hour.

The one thing it does have is the sheer bizarre novelty of being able to say: Yes, I watched Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.

Rating: 3/10 🎁


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🎬 Spoiler Breakdown 🎬

Grandma gets literally run over by Santa on Christmas Eve, just like the song promised. Only in this version, Santa doesn’t even realize what happened, and Grandma somehow winds up inside Santa’s sleigh — then disappears for most of the film. Jake tries to convince people she was kidnapped by Santa, but no one believes him.

Enter Quincy the elf. And here’s where it gets…weird.

After Santa tells him to email Jake, he just says I have a better idea. And what’s his better idea? To break into Jake’s room through the window, say what now?

Anyways he breaks into Jake’s room through the window and says, in the most suspicious voice imaginable:

> “I have a question… would u like to find ur Grandma?”
Told you. Accidental pedo-vibes galore.



Meanwhile, greedy Cousin Mel is scheming to get Grandma declared legally dead so she can sell the family store. There’s a courtroom sequence, complete with the infamous song moment where Grandpa belts out:

> “Grandpa’s gonna sue the pants off of Santa!”
And yes, somehow they slipped in a “No pantalones!” line. Don’t ask me. I didn’t write this. If I did, I’d have burned the script and gone home to rethink my life.

In the end, Grandma is found, Santa is cleared of charges, Cousin Mel gets caught for fraud, and the store is saved. Everyone forgives Santa for, you know, vehicular reindeer assault. The special ends on a cheery family note, trying to pretend none of that was deeply unsettling.