Johann's Gift to Christmas

The original music and lyrics are wonderful, charming. The casting is perfect. The direction and cinematography is skillful, so well done. The acting is humorous yet poignant, and beautiful. The script is well-written and adapted expertly. Beautiful scenic designs and period costumes. Charming claymation, stop motion animation. A Christmas favorite. The lower ratings are unjustified -- there is nothing scary whatsoever as one low reviewer mentioned, unless one is scared by the depiction of a cat chasing a mouse. I'm so happy to own a copy of this short film on DVD, it has become my favorite Christmas story to see every year, and it deserves the best recognition.

I remember that when I was three years old my grandma found a dvd of this movie on the clearance rack at Walmart for ¢50, I watched this movie until the disc wore out, when I was older I Rewatched it and had major nightmares about it, it scared me when I was a little bit older, I wouldn't recommend showing this to a very young child as it scared me and my little brothers when we were little.

This story takes place back in the victorian age. It intertwines the stories of a little girl working on the streets to earn money as a performer, and the lives of some church mice she sees in a tiny hole and also two men who are trying to come up with a new Christmas song for their Christmas service. One mouse in particular, Johann is new to the church that he runs in to when escaping from the little girl's cat. He is a very caring little guy and tries his best to help his new 'church mouse' friend Victor out when he is injured. A huge pipe organ is also quite important in this show, as you will see when all the lives are joined together in the end.