TV REVIEW : A Doll, a Girl--and Ronald

“The Wish That Changed Christmas,” a new animated special airing at 8:30 tonight on CBS (Channels 2 and 8), offers the video equivalent of a Happy Meal: lots of fancy packaging surrounding a small amount of nourishment.

Based on the children’s book “The Story of Holly and Ivy,” written by Rumer Godden and illustrated by Barbara Cooney, it’s a fairly standard tale about an orphan girl who gets both a doll and a family on Christmas.

Romeo Muller’s pedestrian script flattens out the original story: The characters lose their individuality and charm, and become stolid vehicles for the heavy-handed dialogue.

When Ivy, the young girl, announces that she wants a doll to hold and hug, and Holly, the Christmas doll in a toy shop window, declares that she wants a child to own her and hug her, even a small child will realize it’s just a question of time before they get together.

The animation is little more than adequate, and the simplified designs lack the appeal of the original illustrations. Norman Roger’s engaging musical score ranks as the show’s most enjoyable feature.

“The Wish That Changed Christmas” is billed as the first installment of “Ronald McDonald’s Family Theater,” a series “that aims to bring the magic of books to life and encourage kids to read.”

It’s an admirable goal, but the presence of the familiar clown in his yellow outfit with the golden arches ID patch, reading from a book embossed with the golden arches, makes the show feel suspiciously like a long, low-key commercial for a certain fast-food chain.

If the series proves successful, perhaps other advertisers will follow suit and give Speedy Alka-Seltzer and Tony the Tiger a crack at prime time.