Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "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".

Hellmant 'THE GRUFFALO'S CHILD': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)This 2011 TV animated short film is a sequel to the 2009 animated short 'THE GRUFFALO', which was nominated for a 2011 Academy Award. Once again it's based on a children's book (of the same name) by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. It was adapted for the screen by Donaldson and Johanna Stuttmann and directed by Uwe Heidschotter and Johannes Weiland. It features the same all star voice cast as the original (including Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, John Hurt, Rob Brydon, James Corden and Tom Wilkinson). Coltrane once again voices the beast known as 'The Gruffalo' and in this story he's telling tales to his daughter (Shirley Henderson) of a 'Big Bad Mouse'. The child then ventures out to find the ferocious mouse and comes across various other animals on her journey (including the snake, owl and fox from the original film). It was screened with the 2013 Oscar nominated animated shorts in theaters and billed as 'highly commended'. At 27 minutes it's a tad too long and kind of just feels like more of the same (as the original film). It once again is nothing special as well. It will probably fascinate small children but no one else. I don't especially care for the animation in these films either.Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6yq7kwUUDQ

Jackson Booth-Millard 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!

bob the moo Essentially reversing the plot of the original Gruffalo short, this time the squirrel tells her children a tale about the Gruffalo's child going into the woods to seek out the fearsome mouse that her father uses as a warning not to wander off. As before each animal encountered points the child onwards to a new threat and as before the result is a cute and enjoyable little short film even if it never really excels in a great deal. It probably helped by enjoyment that I recorded this and watched it later on Christmas Day – and did so after watching the rather disappointing and heartless Doctor Who special. In stark contrast this film is simple, quite warming and very easy to watch with its rhyming dialogue and simple characters.It perhaps lacks the Pixar sense of humour or a cynical edge to appeal to adults specifically but it is hard to dislike it for just how simple a tale it is. The animation is impressive but yet retains the feel of a children's book – I feel no shame in admitting that I was watching this in a dressing gown at the end of a day of wine and food and it felt oddly comforting to be sitting being told this wholesome and simple little tale. The dialogue works well in this effect with it repetition and rhyming nature while the voice cast from the first film mostly return. Most of them only have a few lines apart from Shirley Henderson, who plays her usual "odd Scottish waif" role really well as the child – she was a good bit of casting and brought a lot of character to the child. As before Corden mercifully underplays and does good as the mouse.Overall The Gruffalo's Child is not really worthy of comparison to that other animated Christmas favourite of Wallace and Gromit, but it engagingly pleasing in its simplicity and good-natured telling. It is written for young children but yet the film felt warming and easy for me in my mid-30's; how it would stand up on a bright summer's day I don't know, but as a nice little family film it worked really well on Christmas Day.