MartinHafer I have been going to the theater on a pilgrimage for quite a few years now each January-February to see the annual showings of the Best Animated and Best Live Action Shorts. I am lucky enough to live in one of the few places in the country that shows it each year. And, along with the nominated films, they usually show several commended films--animated films which didn't make the final cut but which are well worth seeing.The final commended film shown in this viewing was "The Gruffalo's Child". I must admit that I don't understand the Gruffalo films. They are slickly made but the films never really excited me and seem purely of interest to small kids. HOWEVER, when I went to Europe (where the stories originated), I went in quite a few bookstores and saw HUGE displays of the books. Clearly, the kids in Europe love those Gruffalos!! I may sound very selfish in saying this, but although this film was nice, I wish they hadn't picked it since I'd already seen "The Gruffalo" during a similar screening last year (or was it the year before?) and it was by far the longest of the shorts shown this year. So, this means other wonderful films made by smaller film makers didn't get to be seen because they showed this one. Surely, the Gruffalo folks appreciated the exposure but also didn't NEED it nearly as much as the struggling artists whose work COULD have been shown. And, at almost a half hour, two or three other shorts could have been shown instead. Just my two cents worth. A good film but a familiar one as well.

Stefan Hickman first... I have not seen the Gruffalo. Second... I read this on a bi-weekly basis with the kids. They are 6,4 & 2. Third... I love to read and want the kids to love reading too. This is something we do together just me and the kids. So....I was super excited when i found this and the kids were really exited when they realised what it was we where watching. It has been supremely presented as the actual book is not heavy on words. The narration was fantastically paced with the additional on charter interplay that was not actually in the book. The story flows well with tension on an entirely appropriate level for the kids. I appreciated the most (and it was a deal breaker for me to be honest) was the sticking to the rhyme and word play. In short this is great... the kids loved it, i loved it and it was a wee bit special for the kids an i.

TheLittleSongbird As a big animation fan, I loved The Gruffalo's Child. It is not quite as good as The Gruffalo, which I also loved, but of all the programmes airing over the Christmas break The Gruffalo's Child stood out as one of the treasures. The animation is true to the illustrations and looks superb with sophisticated backgrounds and colours that look simply beautiful. The rhyming dialogue is droll and sometimes amusing, delighting any child, adult or even family watching, and the story while simple is very charming and heart-warming, in short effective in its simplicity. I loved the cute(and never cloying) characters as well, and the voice cast was great especially from Shirley Henderson, who was very whimsical and moving as the Child. Overall, wonderful. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Jackson Booth-Millard This short film following the first story is one that I got the opportunity to see when they showed the original again, I was looking forward to seeing if this sequel, also shown at Christmas, would be as good as the first. Basically two Little Squirrels (Sam Lewis and Phoebe Givron-Taylor) are being told the story of a forest monster's child by Mother Squirrel (Helena Bonham Carter). The Gruffalo (Robbie Coltrane) inside the dark cave of the forest has warned his Child (Shirley Henderson), his daughter, not to go into the woods looking for the Big Bad Mouse, the only thing he is afraid of. Of course while he is fast asleep she ignores this advice and decides to wander into the forest and see if she can find the scary Mouse (James Corden) he is talking about. On her way she encounters the three predators that the Mouse came to face previously, the Fox (Tom Wilkinson), the Owl (John Hurt) and the Snake (Rob Brydon), who all tell her where she may find him, but not definitely. Time passes and she slowly thinks she has been tricked and that there is no Big Bad Mouse after all, but then a Mouse appears out of his home, and he spots the Gruffalo's Child. To avoid her eating him the Mouse tells her that the Big Bad Mouse does exist, and invites her to meet him, and with the help of the bright moonlight she is terrified by his large shadow. She runs back to the Gruffalo cave in terror, passing the three predators along the way, and she clams down, happy that her father was right and that she did get to see the monster he fears. The computer animation is really good for this simple and fun story, the younger audience will definitely have fun with the adorable Gruffalo's child, the hideous but likable Gruffalo himself, the lovable Mouse, 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!