It's amazing to me the way a small half-hour animation from over 30 years ago came to have such a massive impact and became such an integral part of the Christmas spirit for so many people, and now a new sequel gets to carry on the joy... I really liked this, I thought it was very sweet and heartwarming. I was very impressed by how well they managed to duplicate the look and style of the original, yet subtly bring the setting up to modern times. Things were modernised, yet at the same time stayed true to the classic formula. Although I found it to be fairly good all the way through, it was slow-paced and patchy at times, and I thought the song "Light the Night" was a very poor choice, as it was most lame and corny and didn't even come close to the bittersweet magic of "Walking in the Air". I'm glad they didn't opt to go with the 1982 song again though. That would have been just a little too much history repeating. It was really nice to see the snowman again, like being reunited with an old friend. Such a warm character, perhaps a tad ironic, when you consider what he's actually made of! My favourite feature of the snowman was always the funny tangerine nose, and I loved how the snowdog carried on the tradition with the single orange seg that he had for a nose - supercute! I of course felt differently when I was a kid, but now I don't get why it's supposed to be so utterly tragic when the snowman melts away in the original animation. I know it's symbolic of death, and childhood's end and everything, but the snowman in a sense is winter, and winter can only pass, but he'll always come back next year, so it ain't so bad. At least that is how I like to look at it. Of course it's a shadow of the first one, how could it ever not be? People never like sequels to great things, and this had a heck of a lot to live up to. But that's no reason at all not to give this worthy little gem a chance. The final twist was what truly made it special for me. I don't want to spoil anything, but I will just say that the classic phrase about a dog not being just for Christmas never rang truer. A certain way of reaching the hearts of human beings is through their dogs... I didn't think the addition of the Snowdog was mere fluff, I thought that the minor character added a little emotional depth, but in a different way because some of the themes, in a rather emotionally powerful way, played into people's love of their dogs. The final image is very moving and poignant, and echoes well the original sentiments, but in a significantly different, and lesser way. The ending was sad, but the impact was blunted considerably by what happens - so compared to the original I think it's a bit mild and something of a sweetened fable. It was very well done and evoked just the right amount of emotion without feeling forced. And it did make me all misty-eyed, but probably not for the reason it was supposed to. It was the element of the dog, reminded me of our own who we lost several years ago just before Christmas. We loved that dog. The earlier animation has more than stood the test of time and I'm sure this will too, I just don't see it ever being considered as timeless or special, nor does it quite rival it for charm. But regardless, it's sure to become a classic in its own right and a familiar, well-loved festive staple on some TV channel somewhere every Christmas - and I hope it does, it truly deserves to be, because I thought overall that it was sweet and brilliant.
The Snowman and the Snowdog
(2012 TV Short)
Is this another mini Christmas legend in the making? Only time will tell...
7 January 2013
Warning: Spoilers