Mog's Christmas

Seems that a traditional animated feature per Christmas is now standard for the UK. This year we get this adaptation of Judith Kerr's book. The animation is beyond stellar, with long, panning shots. Mog herself moves and has manneirisms much like a real cat.

On a purely technical level, this short is quite lovely. Story wise, however, it's a bit hard to stomach Mog's clear extremely realistic discomfort at the Christmas chaos. As a cat owner myself, her confusion and fear tug at my heartstrings, and I don't fel the resolution fixes this since the family decides to traumatize her further.

Also, some of the human characters were pretty annoying.

I find Mog's Christmas (2023) is another very good hand-drawn animated movie adaptation of the late Judith Kerr's book, since The Tiger Who Came To Tea (2019). Because the animation is wonderful, the music is splendid, the voice acting is superb and the story is very heartwarming and it captures the Christmas spirit as well. The characters are interesting like Mog The Cat, who is very forgetful. Her owners are The couple called Mr. And Mrs. Thomas, with their two children called Debbie and Nicky. Their uncle with a cheerful personality called The Jolly Uncle. And their two aunts, who walked on tip-toes. It's also very faithful to the late Judith Kerr's picture book since The Tiger Who Came To Tea (2019). Mog's Christmas (2023) is a very good story for children of all generations, from 1976 to the present day. I'm giving this a 10/10 and Merry Christmas.

Judith Kerr's Mog the Cat story gets adapted as an animation short by Channel 4.

After 40 years of these cartoons such as The Snowman to The Tiger Who Came for Tea. They know the formula.

It is traditional animation but with a musical interlude. The charms relies heavily on the story.

Mog the Cat feels unloved, unappreciated in the Thomas household. They are busy preparing for Christmas.

Frightened by the ginamous Christmas tree that arrives in the house. Mog climbs up the roof and is stuck there after it snows.

Only the Johnson family miss the cat as they try to lure the cat back down. Maybe Mog can find her own way down on Christmas morning.

Overall this was a delightful piece. I can see this being a family favourite in years to come.

I watched this twice - once on Christmas Eve and because I enjoyed it so much, again on Christmas Day with my extended family. And as my rather unoriginal title says, this animated short is absolutely lovely. The animation looks like the books come to life, and for anyone who has a sweet if a little dopey cat, the body language is completely true to life. The song, while a little on the cheesy side, is rather beautiful too, but isn't that exactly what you want at Christmas? Also it made me cry, but in a very good way and reminded me of when I was a kid and the world felt like a far better and kinder place than it is now - whether that's the delusion of being a child, I don't know, but for some sweet, escapist fun, it's just what you need.

Mog the Cat is a treasured part of my childhood and I now love reading the books to my five year old, so I was a little nervous that this would not live up to my expectations.

It totally exceeded them, the original story is fleshed out a little, with a few choice additions from other books. Little touches, like Morecambe and Wise being on the television is a shop window really anchor it in its time and add little touches of nostalgia for adults.

My little one was transfixed throughout, as were the adults in the room.

Gentle, humourous and utterly, utterly charming. I can't praise this enough.