Christmas Day

The Snowman
This charming British animated short film (it’s just 23 minutes long) is a 1982 production of London’s Channel 4, based on the classic children’s book by Raymond Briggs and crafted with a colored-pencils-on-paper look, like fluffy, hand-drawn illustrations. Small children should be entranced by the story of a small boy in rural England whose lovingly constructed snowman comes to life and takes him flying over the white-blanketed landscapes, in a beautiful rotoscoped (traced) sequence based on live-action flying footage. Part of the charm of the film is the gentle, everyday quality of its fantasy adventures: the snowman is invited in to try on clothes and play with the Christmas decorations, then plays host to the boy at a party in the woods, at which his snowy relatives do English country dances. This is one of the very few Christmas tapes on the market that really deserves to be a holiday perennial, a gentle fable of friendship and the power of imagination. –David Chute

Father Christmas
This irreverent Santa breaks from tradition in many ways. He has no Mrs., owns only four reindeer, and decides to convert his sleigh into an airborne motor home for a pre-Christmas vacation. He finds France too snooty, Scotland too cold, and Las Vegas just right. Tanned and rested, he returns to the North Pole in time to sort through the mail, pack up the toys, and hit the skies. Like the Santa of the Raymond Briggs book on which this 24-minute video is loosely based, he narrates his own story (splendidly voiced by Los Angeles stage actor William Dennis Hunt). But fans of the 1973 book will find the animated version far less cranky than the original. Although the book was aimed at ages 4-8, the video may have a wider appeal, depending on how you feel about the children seeing Santa gambling at the casino tables, dreaming of bikini-clad babes, and suffering a bout of diarrhea. –Kimberly Heinrichs

• Raymond Briggs’ The Bear/The Animal Train
• Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman
• Father Christmas
• The Snowman Storybook (Pictureback(R))
• The Snowman

I can’t imagine another short animated movie coming along and out-doing The Snow Man. What a charming, sweet, and innocent story. The music is from the first note to the last among the most prettiest I have ever heard. It never fails to take me back to younger years or take the weight off my shoulders for a while. The young man in this story, is the same James that is in James & The Giant Peach. I saw that movie a few years ago and don’t remember much of it but I know it was no match for The Snowman.

You’d be hard pressed to find another animated story of this calibre. And yet, most of my friends have never heard of it. I too stumbled upon it while watching PBS back in the 80’s during the Christmas holiday. I missed some parts of the begining but when it was over, I made a mental note to seek this one out on DVD and was over joyed to eventually find it. I usually only watch it during the Christmas holiday but I just picked up the sound track on cd. The Snowman is a one of a kind.

Where to buy cheap prices? -The Snowman & Father Christmas $14.94



*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Jan 29, 2010 20:00:26