The Night the Animals Talked

It's a shame this movie is so unrecognized as a Christmas classic. It's a wonderful story.

This may be pathetic, but twenty-five years after the last broadcast of this cartoon, my brother and I still 'baaaa' at each other like goats every Christmas Eve.

This truly beautiful piece of holiday animation combines two of the most cherished genres in the world: namely (and no offense to non-Christians), Christmas and talking animals. And it mixes these two genres in a touching, intelligent way.

It's the story of one night when all the animals in a stable discover that they can speak. With this "gift" comes conflict, provoked mostly by the arrival of two (soon to be three) unwanted guests to their stable. Each animal has a differing and fitting personality and a differing stance on whether to allow the guests to stay. The eventual resolution is not only heart-warming, but, dare I say...haunting.

You will never forget this.

"The Night the Animals Talked" I remember it still.

I like many comments posted here, thought this was an awesome show. I was very young "the one and only time" I saw it. Five? Six years of age? I always looked for it at X-mas time special ...and never saw it again.

At 46 years of age, I still remember it. It definitely made an impression.

Now that I know it it is still out there. I will be trying to find it.

Obviously a good cartoon for young kids.

From some of the comments I've seen posted. It is a good show for us old kids now too. I am looking forward to finding it and seeing it again and sharing with my family.

I mean here I am, searching for it on the net. Obviously it made an impression. Helps to be an animal lover, but not necessary to enjoy this movie.

I was only five years old when my brother and I sat in front of the TV, mesmerized by this cartoon with so much feeling and such a beautiful, loving message. I would like to have a copy of this movie for my children to experience. I would like to know if it is going to be shown this holiday season. There are certain experiences that leave marks on our memories and hearts and this movie is one of them. I am not sure why the TV stations would not want to show this cartoon. I don't understand how they could show The Drummer Boy and not show this cartoon afterall, there is Christ in Christmas-that's what it is all about!

I've been looking for a copy of this for years! I vividly remember seeing it on TV among all the other Christmas specials(must have been about seven years old at the time), and to this day can recall certain scenes. I remember my sister and I watching avidly, and crying because we were so touched by the animals' plight as they tried to share good news. Over the years, I've searched the net.... have even rung TV stations to see if they had any details about it in their archives. This site is the first time I've tracked down any useful information. It would bring back a lot of happy memories if I could ever secure a copy of this film to watch with my family. A true little gem - considering how much junk is displayed on TV at this (and every other!) time of year, it's a great pity that this has never been shown again on Australian television.