paul_en_irlande I have just seen approximately 1 minute of the US version of Hooves of Fire. I had to turn it off in disgust. Why are US accents necessary? Are the people of that country so simple that they cannot deal with accents? Are they so xenophobic that they can't deal with foreigner's outside of the context of a story's evil characters? What was a charming, original and very British comedy has been raped and pillaged like so many before. If your propaganda machine permits, please see the original version. The original Hooves of Fire is a very different Christmas story. It is a refreshing change. The quirky humour is enhanced by the array of Irish, English, Welsh and other accents. The cast of well-known voices from the UK and Ireland (Father Ted, Ab Fab, The Royle Family, etc) proves there is life outside of Hollywood. The mixture of a so-called children's story with more mature content yields a rich result. This show is fun for children and fun for adults: it can reach a more diverse audience (sort of like Philip Pullman's Dark Matters Trilogy, only in a much simpler way). Boycott this travesty.

tributarystu Few tiny spoilersIt just so happened, or, better said, I just so made it happen, that I saw this short animated movie. The story is about a reindeer who has to fight his way(metaphorically speaking) out of his father's shadow, the greatest reindeer of all times, which I suppose is Rudolf. It's a somewhat funny production, but it lacks a certain rythm in the way the reindeers move and the story itself is simply a nice story for children. Still, it's got some parts which raise above average and above what you'd expect from this thing, so I think I can be pleased with it all. I mainly wanted to see this for the first few seconds in which Robbie Williams is the narrator, in a kind of attempt to prepare myself for his future productions, in which he "lends" his voice. 7/10

andynortonuk Ardal O'Hannon, Steve Coogan, Ricky Tomlinson, Paul Whitehouse and Harry Enfiled and Allistar McGowan! This must be a dream! No it isn't! They do provide voices in this hilariously rib-tickling Christmas treat! The story is extremely orginal, and the spoof "Chariots of Fire" title just makes it a true gem of british comedy, and aniamtion, of course! The animation is just as good as any claymation classic, like Creature Comforts or the Wallace and Gromit films! In fact it's only slightly better! It well-deserved the BAFTA TV Award forBest Entertainment (Programme or Series)"production team"! It just had one of best production team ever to assemble an animated film ever! Also, at the Berlin International Film Festival, it recieved 2 awards: a Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk - Special Award for Best Short Film, and a Glass Bear for Best Short Film! Well done Richard Goleszowski, who recieved the 2 awards! In addition to his awards cabinet, Richard Goleszowski recieved an Audience Award at the 2000 Leipzig DOK Festival! But it should have received the Academy Award for Best Animated Film, as well but that went to Aleksandr Petrov's The Old Man and the Sea, which I must see!

ampersandranch I was winding up my weekend, doing house-y errands with my television humming in the background......but I had to drop everything when this came on. A 30-year-old adult, watching this alone, and I was laughing out loud. I'd never heard of it before, but I'll be sure to tell everyone I know to add this to the list of Christmas "must-see" classics. Great voices, great animation, and a feel-good story as well.