This is a really lovely short film which revolves around a very British vision: Father Christmas (aka Santa Claus etc) is an old man in a small terraced house somewhere in the north of England, living a very normal day to day life and approaching his unusual work as any other self-employed tradesman might.
There's almost no sentimentality here, which is what makes it work and what distinguishes it from the legions of clones seen elsewhere. As you would expect Father Christmas is a good man, but he's also an real man, and we see him do things that are so mundane and unglamourous that they are a delightful shock: for example while on a camping holiday in France he suffers an attack of diarrhoea and runs to the bushes (a later leg of the same holiday sees him gambling in Las Vegas as well as sampling whisky in Scotland). Despite how it sounds on paper it does actually work well, emphasising a genuine and good-natured personality underneath the grumpiness. Mel Smith is perfect for the role, and though it is not his best-known role this is arguably one of the highlights of his career.
On the visual side, the animation is top notch, accurately reflecting the style of the Raymond Briggs books it is based on. The rough pastel textures are distinctively British and a good contrast to the pure colours of American and Japanese animation. It also ties in nicely with its more famous companion piece The Snowman, it's well worth watching them together.
In a very crowded and hackneyed field this is a Xmas-themed short that justifies its existence: a new and charming slant on a familiar figure from all our childhoods, realised on its own terms.
There's almost no sentimentality here, which is what makes it work and what distinguishes it from the legions of clones seen elsewhere. As you would expect Father Christmas is a good man, but he's also an real man, and we see him do things that are so mundane and unglamourous that they are a delightful shock: for example while on a camping holiday in France he suffers an attack of diarrhoea and runs to the bushes (a later leg of the same holiday sees him gambling in Las Vegas as well as sampling whisky in Scotland). Despite how it sounds on paper it does actually work well, emphasising a genuine and good-natured personality underneath the grumpiness. Mel Smith is perfect for the role, and though it is not his best-known role this is arguably one of the highlights of his career.
On the visual side, the animation is top notch, accurately reflecting the style of the Raymond Briggs books it is based on. The rough pastel textures are distinctively British and a good contrast to the pure colours of American and Japanese animation. It also ties in nicely with its more famous companion piece The Snowman, it's well worth watching them together.
In a very crowded and hackneyed field this is a Xmas-themed short that justifies its existence: a new and charming slant on a familiar figure from all our childhoods, realised on its own terms.