Stick Man

My two and a half year old grandson absolutely loves this movie and watches it on a regular basis. It teaches some good lessons for youngsters and the characters make sense to young children. I find the gentle voices are just right and the story line progresses at a rate young children can easily follow. I have watched it several times and as yet I have not got bored with it as there is so much to point out to my grandson. With another one on the way. I think I shall be watching it for a few years yet!

Nothing special to say about this movie except that it is one of those best cartoons or animations based on a book. Simple, magical, funny, sweet, inspirational. For example it inspired me to build some small device similar to branch and let river or even just a stream bring it to far far away. Something I always imagined as a kid. Also flying in air either in real vehicle or in from of toys like drones. Good for Christmas and New Year. Reminds me of some religious or spiritual teaching that even branches are alive.

I've not read this book but recently watched this with my toddler. Knowing it comes from the same place as Room on the Broom, and most recently, Zog, I was surprised that it had quite a downbeat tone. Essentially the plot sees Stick Man getting into bad situations, each one taking him further from home and into greater danger. I was surprised on watching that it wasn't lighthearted, it wasn't funny but that it played quite dark. Okay it has the rhyming dialogue that these type of things have, and the animation was rounded and likeable, but the material had that tone to it, and there weren't any laughs to break it up.

Reflecting back, it maybe played well for what it did, because it produced something based on danger and loss, but did it in this animated way that was easier to digest. I can imagine children being a bit saddened, before the magic of the end produces a happy ending, but they will not be overly frightened or threatened by it. My toddler understood the importance of Stick Man's family, and why his situation was bad, but she didn't get upset or bored by it - in this way I think the balance was good and the film's tone carried it off well. Not one of these films that I'll come back to loads, but an interesting change from the other BBC/Donaldson animations.

Now winter time is a distinctly dangerous time to be a stick. Especially if you are out in the forest minding your own business and encountering people and animals that can find all sorts of uses for you. You can get covered in dogs saliva, or chucked into the river to play a game devised by that yellow bear that liked the honey. You can be set fire to, used as a weave for a bird's nest or even swept out to sea. Indeed, were it not for a complete stroke of luck it might well be that Mrs. Stick and the children three might never again their father see. I enjoyed this colourful animation as we follow the escapades of a dad who epitomises all that I can think to deter one from ever being daft enough to be a jogger! There's loads of wildlife and scenarios that allow the artists to mix the flora and the fauna colourfully and keep the story skipping along entertainingly, with even the slightest hint of (Christmas) jeopardy, as we pass half an hour accompanied by a jolly score and lots of snow. Good fun.

Well, I didn't know this was a Christmas short. It somehow ended up in my laptop and now that I've seen it, I thought why not review it especially because it has Dr.Watson or Martin Freeman in it.

It's a fairly simple story with Martin Freeman's Stick Man, who lives with his family and one fine day decides to go for a jog and finds himself in an adventure he wasn't really expecting. That's it. No complications, no hidden meaning. Simple and fun.

The animation had a stop-motion kind of a feel to it. I mean, it looked like stop-motion but nowadays animation has reached such heights that it's difficult to tell the difference between actual stop-motion and artificial. Stick Man's youngest kid is the cutest Stick I've ever seen. The dialogue in the movie consists of rhymes that are said by various elements in the movie like the frog or the pigeon etc. It was basically Toy Story with twigs, oh sorry, Stick Man. Martin Freeman really plays these funny, frustrated characters really well and he conveys it only by the grunts when he slams into an oar and also how his tone changes every-time he says the poem.

Definitely give it a watch. It's only 27 minutes long which has 5 minutes of credits in it. It reminded me that shorts and even full- length films can be made just for the fun of it and this one made me feel like a kid again.