The Gruffalo's Child

A wonder filled sequel to Julia Donaldson's THE GRUFFALO, once again, using the animation wizardry of Magic Light Pictures and Studio Soi to fabricate the world of this trickster tale where imagination, curiousity and adventure dwell. Shirley Henderson joins an already stellar cast of voice actors enlivened by Rene Aubry's wonderful soundtrack. I give this film an 8 (wonderful) out of 10. {Animated Short Adventure}

What a cast! Some amazing voice talent on show, but we don't get that much of them, unfortunately. The animation isn't quite top notch, but the story is wonderfully engaging, with rich characters. Definitely recommended for all ages and family members.

As a big animation fan, I loved The Gruffalo's Child. It is not quite as good as The Gruffalo, which I also loved, but of all the programmes airing over the Christmas break The Gruffalo's Child stood out as one of the treasures. The animation is true to the illustrations and looks superb with sophisticated backgrounds and colours that look simply beautiful. The rhyming dialogue is droll and sometimes amusing, delighting any child, adult or even family watching, and the story while simple is very charming and heart-warming, in short effective in its simplicity. I loved the cute(and never cloying) characters as well, and the voice cast was great especially from Shirley Henderson, who was very whimsical and moving as the Child. Overall, wonderful. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I'm a bit of a sucker for a snowy adventure so I actually enjoyed this every bit as much as I did the first film (2009). Clearly in the intervening years, "Gruffalo" has had some fun for now there is a child. An inquisitive little beastie who has been warned by her dad not to go into the woods unaccompanied for fear of encountering the mouse! In a bit of a reversal of the original story, this intrepid young explorer sets off in the middle of a frosty night on an adventure that introduces her to the fox, the hapless owl and to the clever snake. Her encounter, eventually, with the mouse? Well let's just say our big-eared little friend has lost none of it's vivid imagination! The animation is engaging and detailed, with the snow working well to provide a nice canvas for the lively and entertaining artwork. I'm not sure we need another of these, but this is still good fun for half an hour, and is an easy watch for children and grown-ups alike.

I have been going to the theater on a pilgrimage for quite a few years now each January-February to see the annual showings of the Best Animated and Best Live Action Shorts. I am lucky enough to live in one of the few places in the country that shows it each year. And, along with the nominated films, they usually show several commended films--animated films which didn't make the final cut but which are well worth seeing.

The final commended film shown in this viewing was "The Gruffalo's Child". I must admit that I don't understand the Gruffalo films. They are slickly made but the films never really excited me and seem purely of interest to small kids. HOWEVER, when I went to Europe (where the stories originated), I went in quite a few bookstores and saw HUGE displays of the books. Clearly, the kids in Europe love those Gruffalos!! I may sound very selfish in saying this, but although this film was nice, I wish they hadn't picked it since I'd already seen "The Gruffalo" during a similar screening last year (or was it the year before?) and it was by far the longest of the shorts shown this year. So, this means other wonderful films made by smaller film makers didn't get to be seen because they showed this one. Surely, the Gruffalo folks appreciated the exposure but also didn't NEED it nearly as much as the struggling artists whose work COULD have been shown. And, at almost a half hour, two or three other shorts could have been shown instead. Just my two cents worth. A good film but a familiar one as well.