Oink Oink

Babs gets a pig from her long gone granddad but her mother is not happy about it so Babs decided to get the pig to a puppy class.

I went to this movie as an adult because it's a beautifully made stop motion animation. Lighting is gorgeous as well. The story was moving too, I teared up during the puppy course and some scenes were really funny. The final scene reminded me of Wallace and Gromit.

Although I'm vegan, I'm afraid the overall message (don't eat animals) is brought a little too blunt and might put off some parents. Still the movie is a wonderful heartwarming story that tries to make the world a better place.

Very well animated with great performances, this is an engaging story with appealing characters. There were touches of humour and heart, and a warm friendship between the two child characters. And of course, the pig is very cute. It was good to watch a Dutch language film - it's still possible to tune into and follow the story even if subtitles are not your thing. This particular stop-motion style of animation was refreshing to see, especially in a world increasingly saturated with poor CGI and AI - seeing something made by hand adds an extra life to the characters in this story. As an adult I really enjoyed watching this film, and I think it would appeal to children too.

It was a sunny Saturday and nothing to watch with the kids, so we went to the movie theatre for a short date with a pig. And a girl and a grandfather. On the way to the movie the kids have already started complaining about the type of movies we go in the specific movie theatre and the weirdness of them.

I listened and waited for the actual response during and after the movie. Most of the reactions were expected (including my wife's), but some were not what I have expected and it did kind of changed my way of thinking about this particular stop-motion creation.

A short check about Mascha Halberstad, the director of this movie, shows that she was in charge (directed) the Prodigy's "Wild Frontier" music video clip, so kudos for that. The animation this time and generally, is not my cup of tea (and also the rest of my family members') but it is highly appreciated.

The movie is talking about vegan nine-year-old kid, that gets to know her grandfather from scratch, while she doesn't know anything about his past. Must say that that I've expected a different ending to the movie and a much more anticipated, but the small surprise was really fine by me.

The general message of the movie went pretty clear, but the way was pretty boring, though the movie wasn't so long. It was too much graphic with all the poop and farts and I think it just disrespected the kids' intelligence and even stopped being funny after too much from the same stuff, but hey...kids laughed, so OK.

You can see that the director is a "she". All male characters are lousy. Looser dad, cruel and unreliable grandfather and other man were also ridiculous. The boy got an important job with a view for a better future, but all the rest of important and good characters were the girl and women around her.

On the other hand, just a little bit and before the end of it, several kids were traumatized (including my youngest) and went out crying, so all of the sudden, it treated them as adults. The final verdict was it was OK, they didn't appreciate the animation style and were bored for some time, but somehow enjoyed a bit and not sure they will eat sausages anytime soon.

This is done really well. The animation is at Aardman level, good voice acting and a very enjoyable story. Smiles all around. Some very mild suspense for a few moments, suitable for the youngest audience.

The sets hit the mark, being Dutch myself I found them totally relatable because of the attention to detail. The kids enjoyed the cinematic experience too. I sincerely hope this gets picked up internationally, it deserves it.

All essential male characters are bad or a unuseful loser.

The story and voice acting is good. The animation and level of detail is superb.

Also it's nice to see a setting in Holland. Most jokes are flat and cliche though.

For children it's a very nice film.