Der kleine Samthase

It's early 20th century England. William is a terribly shy boy. His family is moving and he's starting anew. He has trouble making friends. For Christmas, he's given a stuffed toy rabbit. The toys come alive when they are left to themselves. Rabbit is told by the other toys that he could turn into a real rabbit if the boy truly loves him.

This is an Apple TV+ Christmas special. It's forty minutes. It's basically Toy Story with an old England motif. It has one truly powerful emotional turn. Before that, this seems to be lowkey, cute, but lightweight. I am surprised that the turn hit me so hard. Children's stories often come with emotional trauma. This got me good. On the other hand, I'm not impressed with the animation style. I would rather spend some money on the old style two-dimensional drawings or do some rotoscoping. This animation looks like something you do on an Apple Ipad. All in all, this is really good and it could become a Christmas repeat watch.