An Almost Christmas Story

Charming sounds just fair to define this lovely short film about friendship, meaning of Christmas, falling tree and the return home.

I loved the manner to craft the owls and pigeons and the Rockefeller and the taste of hot chocolate in the wam evening, maybe the Christ Eve one.

Difficult to not love it and be seduced at whole by a very simple story with fair dose of realism - Moon is adventurous like each child- , defisation risks and the contact with new world and tries of adaptations.

Not so coherent story but, exactly for this, seductive.

In short, a nice gift . A presumed classic for next years ? Why not !

This cute little animated short follows the adventures of an owl named Moon who gets stuck in a tree that is carted off to Rockefeller Center, where he meets hostile pigeons, jealous dogs, and a friendly one-legged girl.

The look is distinct. The owls look like they're carved out of wood, and some people and objects look like cardboard cutouts. I'm unclear if there was any point to the look beyond hey, this would look cool, but it is interesting.

Unfortunately it doesn't work well with their people designs. The singing-narrator in particular looks creepy and weird, which is certainly not what they were going for.

The best thing is Natasha Lyonne voicing a street-wise New York pigeon. But then, Lyonne is pretty much always the best thing in whatever she's in, so that figures.

I wouldn't say this was a great short, but I did enjoy it and if you're looking for something to watch at Christmastime this is a pretty good option.

I simply loved this film. A story of a (naughty) little owl, who gets lost and has to find his way home. It is beautifully animated, some reviews have said they couldn't get used to the animation, but I loved it. Reminded me of Eastern European children stories back in the 70's. The detail was outstanding. Loved John C Reilly, I had forgotten he could sing so well. Don't worry, it's not a musical, he is a folk singer, and narrates part of the story. This film works for viewers of all ages, and I would definitely recommend it, particularly at this time of the year. I could watch this year after year!

An Almost Christmas Story (2024) -

This film was so full of heart and reminded me of the lovely sweet films of my childhood like 'The Snowman' (1982).

I loved this one's animation style and the soundtrack worked with it very well too, even John C. Reilly's nonsense warbling. The cardboard backgrounds were charming and cleverly used.

Personally I think that they just don't make enough of these artistic and beautifully styled things anymore, it's all CGI, which don't get me wrong has it's place, but it's not the be all and end all. So it was lovely to see them bringing stop motion back.

The story of a young Girl helping to get an Owl back to its family, having somehow become lost in New York (No it wasn't called Kevin, although there were some similarities to that story*) was sweet and innocent and I'm sure that the residents of the Big Apple could rip it apart for factual inaccuracies and I must admit that I did make a few comments to that effect myself before I realised that it wasn't really made to be perfect like that.

I supposed that some of the intention of the story was to inspire people to be kind to others because you never know what they're going through, it can be a big scary city out there, sometimes even in a small town and that's not something that everyone can cope with, so just be nice. That's the sort of thing I like.

If I'm totally honest it didn't hit all of the notes that have me revisiting some other films so often, but I do hope that it will always be available to dip in to whenever I do want to, because I was smiling all the way through.

786.11/1000.

*Home Alone (2): Lost In New York (1992)

Moon is a baby owl who gets out of the home nest and becomes trapped in the giant Christmas tree headed for The Rockefeller Center. It falls right into the middle of the skating rink and later befriends lost girl Luna.

This is a sort-of Disney Christmas special. Other than some of the voice actors, the only name I recognize is Alfonso Cuarón. It's partly his story. I am not familiar with it. It seems a little not that special and I don't find it all that memorable. Only the Rockefeller section really stuck. I like the stop motion animation. The designs are fine. It's a not-that-special special.