Father Christmas (DVD)

This will be a first for me, a film review. I have never written a film review before and I have only ever written one Christmas opinion so to be writing a Christmas film review is going to be a learning curve for me. Mind you, I say film but this is firstly a cartoon and it lasts about 30 minutes. It's still magical though. It's still magical because of my children and the enjoyment they get from it. Watching 'Father Christmas' has become a tradition in our home but not one my wife and I have encouraged, no, this one is purely down to our 3 children. Actually the main culprit if you like is our eldest daughter (she will be ...  Read the complete review

(Please note: This is a film - or TV - only review. Thanks!) Nine years after the immortal Snowman first hit the screens, the BBC (instead of Channel 4) released another television movie, which was again based on a book by Raymond Briggs. Like 'The Snowman' the animation and aesthetics of 'Father Christmas' were designed by Dianne Jackson, who later went on to work on the adaptations of the Beatrix Potter picture storybooks, 'The World of Peter Rabbit'. The animation owed a lot to the original stories and like its Briggs predecessor, looked like it had been ripped straight from the 2D sketches of the books themselves. In 1991, 'Father Christmas' ...  Read the complete review

I am really surprised not to see Raymond Briggs lovely film Father Christmas on the list of films. As charming as the Snowman, this is the cartoon story of Father Christmas after he has worked one Christmas before preparing for the next...holidaying in Las Vegas etc. With the voice of Mel Smith as well as his not too good but excellent for the role singing. Not a very long film, rather like the Snowman, but one that children probably love to watch, I know I do. ...  Read the complete review

Raymond Briggs' 'Snowman' & 'Father Christmas' books & DVDs have become a part of our traditional family Christmas even though my daughters are now 22 & 17, we all sit & watch the films as a family. It's a refreshing change to see Father Christmas portrayed as a cigar-loving, alcohol-drinking, grumpy old man whose favourite words are 'bloomin' Christmas'... The animation is superb, the music is catchy & easy for children to sing along to & Mel Smith, in my opinion, has the best voice for this particular character. The actual film is around 26 minutes long which is just enough for young children I ...  Read the complete review

I have to say that I am completely disgusted with this movie! I have some fond childhood memories (more of the books) and now we have young ones of our own we decided to watch the snowman and this one. The snowman was beautiful on so many levels, so it was with some excitement that we sat down today to watch 'Father Christmas'. The animation is based on two books Briggs made in the 70s. The storyline is harmless enough; the 25 minute animation focuses on what Santa gets upto the rest of the year apart from Christmas, but the treatment was unbelievable. To begin with, Santa was angry, grumpy and aggressive. He uses the word 'bloomin' 72 times in the ...  Read the complete review