Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) Rarely has it been displayed more entertaining and witty than in this 27-minute short film. It was released during the Christmas holidays 2009. A bit off an odd choice as there's no Christmas spirit or snowy landscapes in this one, instead a beautifully animated green forest. Mother Squirrel tells her kids a story and there's certainly something mysterious about it, just like about the whole film. Bonham Carter does a nice job voicing the narrator and it makes me want to see her in more animation. Her intonation gives the film a very unique tone, the whole thing just like the creature in the center of it are shrouded in mystery.We see a little mouse pretending to be friends with that creature, a Gruffalo, whose favorite meal is fox, owl or snake depending on which enemy the mouse has to keep from making it their lunch. But what happens when the Gruffalo actually appears? All in all it's an entertaining half-hour feature and I'm okay with it being nominated for an Oscar. I'm not sure if it's better than the winner "The Lost Thing", but it definitely made a good watch. It's a bit of very a modern fable on the David-Golitah metaphor and the rhymes included and recited by Bonham Carter occasionally reminded me of the old Dr. Seuss animation.

Rectangular_businessman "The Gruffalo" is very pretty animated short, with a beautiful visual style and a charming story, which has all the classic elements from many fairy tales and fables.I liked a lot the aesthetic used for the characters in this short: Their cartoonish and stylish appearance made a good contrast with the realistic sceneries, resulting in something very pleasant.The story itself was something very simple, but incredibly charming. All the characters included from this short were endearing and likable. This is a highly enjoyable animation for the whole family. I would recommend it to anyone.

krkmtchll-335-694437 It's even better than the book. This is everything that 'Where the Wild Things Are' should have been, but wasn't. The animation style is interesting, and I just love the dialogue and voice acting. We have a four year old, and he just loves this film. At about a half-hour, it's not too long for kids that can't sit through an hour or longer movie without getting disinterested. The music is beautiful as well. Very memorable and peaceful.If you have a little one, I recommend this film - it's one of those 'kid' films that is just as fun for the parents to watch, thanks to all the little nuances put into it (like how every living thing except the mouse gets put through the food chain).

Jackson Booth-Millard This short film based on the popular children's book was something I was really annoyed to miss when it was broadcast at Christmas, but when it was shown again I wasn't going to miss it again. Basically two Little Squirrels (Sam Lewis and Phoebe Givron-Taylor) are being told the story of a mouse's walk through the woods by Mother Squirrel (Helena Bonham Carter). A Mouse (James Corden) goes for a walk in the forest in order to get to the tree of acorns, and along the way he encounters predators who will want to eat him. He encounters a Fox (Tom Wilkinson), an Owl (John Hurt) and a Snake (Rob Brydon) who all invite him for a meal, the Mouse declines all of them as he knows they want to eat him. After declining he says to each enemy that he is meeting something called the Gruffalo (Robbie Coltrane), which he describes the hideous anatomy of, and he says its favourite food is based on his predator, to which they run away. The Mouse laughs to himself, knowing that there is no such thing as a Gruffalo, however he is shocked to see that the creature he has been inventing actually exists, and he wants to eat him. However the Mouse stops him, claiming that he is the scariest animal in the forest, and the Gruffalo thinking this is a joke agrees to follow him so he can prove it. The Mouse approaches each predator again, and they run away in terror seeing the big monster behind him, the Gruffalo assumes wrongly that they are running from the Mouse. After all this and the Gruffalo believes that he is indeed the scariest animal in the forest, the Mouse threatens to eat him, to which the large creature runs away, and the Mouse walks away nibbling an acorn he finds. The computer animation is really good for this simple and fun story, the younger audience will definitely have fun with the lovable Mouse, the hideous but likable Gruffalo, and the other characters as well, and the older audience will like the well known voices bringing them to life, is an easy to enjoy family fantasy. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Short Animated Film, and it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Short Animation. Very good!