Tabby McTat

I've two small boys at home so naturally the Julia Donaldson adaptations have formed an essential part of our television experience for a few years now. I've seen all the JD animations, more times than I care to remember.

This though has only been watched once and a half. My children were bored, my wife was bored and by crikey I was bored.

The animation was as good as always but the story was really, really lazy. It was derivative like most children's stories which is expected and forgivable but it was also really dull. I never care for the characters in the JD stories (they're short stories for kids) this time though I disliked them. I honestly wish Fred had broken his neck in the fall to save me from the last fifteen minutes of this.

Watched this last night with my toddler. She normally watches Paw Patrol, Gabby's Dollhouse and similar garbage, so this cute, slow-paced tale was quite refreshing indeed.

The film is CGI but mimics the look and feel of stop motion animation. Only the perfectly smooth movement of its characters betrays its true nature. It's also very faithful to the book and we enjoyed comparing the movie sets to the original illustrations to see how similar they are. Visuals definitely are a 10/10.

The voice acting is also good. Anyone who would criticise it (or the script) clearly never read the book. Jodie Whitaker, everyone's favourite female Doctor Who, is the narrator here and she does a superb job as always. Susan Wokoma is the lovely Socks and Sope Dirisu with his gentle, sweet voice is Tabby McTat. It only makes me wish the latter two had more lines in the film since both their voices are beautiful and a perfect match for the slow pace of the story.

Bottom line: a short, sweet, slow and simple tale of a loyal cat who never forgot his old friend. If it's high octane action you crave, you will be disappointed. If you want a complex script and Shakespearean wit, you'll be disappointed. If you just want a feel-good tale with beautiful visuals, welcome home. You've found it.

Having seen all of the Magic Light Pictures versions of Julia Donaldson's books, I can confidently say this is the best one, by a country mile.

As a father of a 2.5 year old, her stories are a mainstay in my household, and I've seen the animated films what feels like hundreds of times. Most are good to excellent - The Snail and The Whale, and Room on the Broom are particularly strong - but this heart warming story is top of the pile and will hit you hard in the feels.

Tabby McTat is Fred the busker's cat. They spend their days singing to the London crowds and enjoying each other's friendship. When Tabby meets another cat whilst chasing a bug, spending the afternoon playing/flirting, and at the same time Fred is injured chasing a thief, they are separated. Tabby is taken in by the other cat's family and starts one of his own, but his loyalty to Fred is strong and he sets off to find him again.

This is unusual for a JD story in that it isn't set in a fantasy world, and is a fairly complex story for young children about friendship, loyalty and homelessness, but it is beautifully animated with excellent music and will tug right on your heartstrings. If you're the emotional type you will undoubtedly be glassy-eyed by the end.

I'm sure this will be watched many times more in this house and hopefully, with time, I'll learn not to cry so much.

Superb.

Literally the worst thing I have ever watched. How this was ever made and people thought was a good production shows how low the standard has dropped.

This was listed as 'the thing to watch this Christmas'. Which is right if the thing you like to watch is weird looking cats which sing 'miaow, miaow, miaow' in a creepy human voice over and over alongside a repetitive song.

When you think of the Christmas classics such as 'The Snowman' this is embarrassing, actually it is just embarrassing. I haven't felt as compelled to write a review for some time.

Is this really the best they could come up with to treat TV licence payers to?

The longest 25 minutes I have ever wasted.

A very gentle family friendly short that's well suited to Christmas viewing.

The animation is effectively done, with one exception: Tabby McTat is eating cat food from a bowl and yet the contents of the bowl never change and we never see food actually going into his mouth. The behaviour of Tabby McTat at times seems more canine than feline; I did wonder if Tabby McTat was a cat because "cat" generates more useful rhymes (for example "flat") than "dog" does. The "owners" of the black cat seem perhaps a little too accommodating. And while I'm sure the story is not intended to have any connection to Christmas, the ending was somewhat reminiscent of "the Christmas story".