If you're a parent and are looking for something to show your 3-12 y/o kids on the dark evenings before Christmas, I can recommend you to show them this movie. I will list a few of the good parts of this movie and a few of the bad parts of this movie so you can decide for yourself. If your child likes farms then I can truly recommend it. And given that I'm a more grumpy person than Scrooge and a notorious critic when it comes down to children stuff (and I tend to smash down films that offend the intelligence of kids) I think that will hopefully say something.
The good:
The bad:
In conclusion, despite a couple of flaws, it is a very sweet and genuine tale that actually can move a person, and I believe children can enjoy it. For adults it may seem a bit bland, however.
The good:
- The relationships in this movie are very genuine, especially between the main characters Billy and Annabelle. They are well build up, sweet and have meaning behind them, especially in the decisions they make and how they care for each other.
- A cheap gimmick often used in other children movies (I'm looking at you, Care Shits- I mean, Bears) is that a child has ''suffered'' from something just to make it all dramatic, but in the end it is all contrived, doesn't make sense and means nothing. In this movie however, there is actually build up to events that happened to Billy and they are shown to the audience. - The struggles the grandfather of Billy is going through are very well understood and have a lot of meaning. - The dramatic moments are very sweet,genuine and can cause tears, and are not forced in.
The bad:
- the trick behind characters in stories for young children is to make archetypes so they are more easily understood. This often gets confused for making stereotypes, and this movie sometimes falls into that trap, especially with Slim the pig and with the chickens. Fortunately though those character do not matter a whole lot except of being filler to fill up the animals needed on a farm.
- With 53 minutes I still find it a tad short. I wouldn't have mind learning more from our main characters. - The designs are rather bland and the animation is not the best ever. This does really impact the experience, however.
- Some emotional scenes drag on too long while others are, in my opinion, too short.
In conclusion, despite a couple of flaws, it is a very sweet and genuine tale that actually can move a person, and I believe children can enjoy it. For adults it may seem a bit bland, however.