The Gruffalo's Child (2011)

hyped garbage

Good concept, poorly executed.

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

"The Gruffalo's Child" is the sequel to "The Gruffalo" and also got released for the holidays again. I liked the original and was fine with its Oscar nomination, but in this case once is enough. This is basically a story with turned tables. We do not follow the mouse, but the title character this time. They got a pretty great cast for an animated short film, I will hold that in their favor. Helena Bonham Carter does the narration voicing the mother of a bunch of young squirrels and Robbie Coltrane, John Hurt, Tom Wilkinson and Steve Corden are fairly popular as well. It's not their fault really that this did not work out as nicely as the first. Maybe they should have kept it at 10 minutes max this time. Even the rhyming did not feel as smoothly as in the original. The animation wasn't bad. I liked the snowy landscape. Just like the first, this was directed by a duo of Germans, however not the same duo as 2 years ago. I guess it's all these small ingredients that made one big impact, in this case a negative one. I cannot recommend "The Gruffalo's Child".

first... I have not seen the Gruffalo. Second... I read this on a bi-weekly basis with the kids. They are 6,4 & 2. Third... I love to read and want the kids to love reading too. This is something we do together just me and the kids. So....I was super excited when i found this and the kids were really exited when they realised what it was we where watching. It has been supremely presented as the actual book is not heavy on words. The narration was fantastically paced with the additional on charter interplay that was not actually in the book. The story flows well with tension on an entirely appropriate level for the kids. I appreciated the most (and it was a deal breaker for me to be honest) was the sticking to the rhyme and word play. In short this is great... the kids loved it, i loved it and it was a wee bit special for the kids an i.

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

This short film following the first story is one that I got the opportunity to see when they showed the original again, I was looking forward to seeing if this sequel, also shown at Christmas, would be as good as the first. Basically two Little Squirrels (Sam Lewis and Phoebe Givron-Taylor) are being told the story of a forest monster's child by Mother Squirrel (Helena Bonham Carter). The Gruffalo (Robbie Coltrane) inside the dark cave of the forest has warned his Child (Shirley Henderson), his daughter, not to go into the woods looking for the Big Bad Mouse, the only thing he is afraid of. Of course while he is fast asleep she ignores this advice and decides to wander into the forest and see if she can find the scary Mouse (James Corden) he is talking about. On her way she encounters the three predators that the Mouse came to face previously, the Fox (Tom Wilkinson), the Owl (John Hurt) and the Snake (Rob Brydon), who all tell her where she may find him, but not definitely. Time passes and she slowly thinks she has been tricked and that there is no Big Bad Mouse after all, but then a Mouse appears out of his home, and he spots the Gruffalo's Child. To avoid her eating him the Mouse tells her that the Big Bad Mouse does exist, and invites her to meet him, and with the help of the bright moonlight she is terrified by his large shadow. She runs back to the Gruffalo cave in terror, passing the three predators along the way, and she clams down, happy that her father was right and that she did get to see the monster he fears. The computer animation is really good for this simple and fun story, the younger audience will definitely have fun with the adorable Gruffalo's child, the hideous but likable Gruffalo himself, the lovable Mouse, and the other characters as well, and the older audience will like the well known voices bringing them to life, is an easy to enjoy family fantasy. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Short Animated Film, and it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Short Animation. Very good!