The Snowman and The Snowdog (2014)

Such a frustrating disappointment

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Blistering performances.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The Snowman was a Christmas classic for Channel 4 - a station that by and large doesn't really seem to get into the holiday spirit. The Snowman and The Snowdog is basically that same classic with a handful of "bonuses".The writer seemed to have gotten drunk on Christmas with a boxset of Marley & Me, I am Legend and Old Yeller, clocking that people will fall over themselves to get overemotional about their pet dogs. It's the Call of Duty method of improving for a sequel. "Let's just stick with the original and add in some cool new features. How about dogs? People love dogs. We'll throw in a plane too."The Snowman's brilliance means this sequel is watchable, but it's completely unnecessary and its emptiness reeks of the shallow commercialism that encapsulates the worst of Christmas.

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.

After Raymond Briggs' silent Christmas classic, The Snowman (1982) came to channel 4 in London, fans of the short film never expected to see a sequel to it. As were I just as surprised. I knew it was the 30th anniversary this year but I was not expecting a sequel. Not to mention that I only heard a few days before that it was supposed to air on television! What a surprise that was!The title of this sequel is fairly self-explanatory of what characters will be involved with the plot. However, the back-story may be a little different than what it was expected to be. The character of the snowdog was added because this particular boy once had a dog and it passed away. So along with the time capsule that he found in his house with a picture of the boy (James) from 1982 and the snowman he built, this new boy decides to build that same snowman along with a snowdog that resembled his friend from years past. Cute right? Well it gets cuter.However, I can't give away much else because I'll ruin the surprise. I also can not give this film a full ten stars just because it's a sequel and any fan of any franchise should know that it takes a lot for a sequel to surpass or even match its predecessor. I do give credit to the animators. They kept the animation and art all the same as the 1982 version and for 99% of the time it was silent (just like the first). Plus the animation looked more crisp and vivid. But like any film, if the score changes, then the feeling changes. Howard Blake (although he is now old) did not return to score this film which disappoints me. Ilan Eshkeri scored the film this time and although it had emotions flowing through it, it just didn't hit the high mark like Blake's score. Plus, just like the flying sequence, the vocals in this song weren't as resounding either. The film will still pluck at your heartstrings but unfortunately it won't match the original classic of 1982.The sequel to Raymond Briggs' 1982 classic gives a sweet twist and a nod to the original. It may not have the same musical score but it's still a great holiday film.

I don't care if it causes traffic misery, we need a white Xmas every year or it just ain't right. Can you imagine how dreary this would look if it were pissing with rain instead? The Snowman, and this sequel, are representations of the Xmases we wish we could have, regardless of age.A young boy moves into the house seen in the previous cartoon where he soon finds a box beneath the floorboards containing The Snowman's hat and scarf. Since his little dog just died he decides to rebuild the Snowman as well as a Snowdog. Xmas magic happens, the tubby dude comes to life, and he whisks the boy away to the North Pole to take part in some winter games with a gathering of other snowmen and meet Santa.The music is nice enough, but it's not as memorable as Walking in the Air. The animation and landscape are gorgeous, as expected, though. It treads pretty much the same ground as the first, and comes across as a modern remake rather than a sequel (did we really need the exact same sad ending again?), and I can't see it becoming a classic, but it's a very nice way to spend 25 minutes.