zidangus Well I really did like this animation, but I just cannot bring myself to watch it again. The main reason for this is that my memories of my dog who recently died, come flooding back when I watched it. Which in turn made me an emotional wreck for the following hour. I am going to take this as a good thing for the creators to make such an impact from their animation. But again I am sure I don't want to go through this again. So great animation but if you lost a dog recently, it will bring the memories flooding back and make you somewhat sad and depressed for a while. I guess if you don't have a dog or have not lost a dog then the impact of the animation might be a lot less. But for me one view is enough.

Anssi Vartiainen At the same time a sequel and an homage to the original Christmas classic, The Snowman, this film takes place years after the events of the original film and once again the events of that magical night will repeat themselves.What I like about this film is how they tried to capture the magic and uniqueness of the original film. The animation, though bit crisper around the edges, still looks very authentic and is easily the best part about this film.Unfortunately the rest of the film feels like a cheap mimic of the original classic. The biggest problem is that I don't really want the story of The Snowman to continue. When that movie ended, it was painful, it was sad, but it was also something that felt right. I learned something from it, yet the story of this sequel completely undermines and cheapens that ending. It has no meaning, no impact, if you can just fashion yourself a new one the next day or year.Furthermore, there's very little originality or creativity on display here. Sure, there's a snowdog, but it feels like a cheap gimmick, meant to awe the little children in the audience. I guess the sequel needed something extra, but come on guys, you could have done better than this. The rest of the story sticks pretty close to the original formula, with a few deviations, but if you really want to see a story about a boy and his snow companion(s), well, we already had the original film.Even the music is just bland. A trendy pop tune with not a single thread of the magic of the original Walking in the Air.In the end, I cannot find it within myself to completely damn this film because, as stated, it is an homage and tries to pay respect to the original film. But it's just so bad at it. I honestly would have been happier if I never saw this in my life. Hopefully I can still watch the original with same enthusiasm as I've done before, come next Christmas.

TheLittleSongbird First off, I absolutely adore The Snowman. Charming, stunningly animated, beautifully scored complete with a heart-wrenching ending, it is really something that Christmas is not the same without. I was intrepid in all honesty about The Snowman and the Snowdog. I was intrigued also of course, but thirty years after the original, which is close to so many people's hearts, I did question whether there was much point to it, and my family initially felt the same. Watching it last night, I actually did find it quite pleasing. Is it as good as The Snowman(like it or not, it is inevitable that these two are going to be compared in some way)? No it isn't, but The Snowman's quality and its reception and influence was a very tough act to follow and it was to be expected.If there was anything that I wasn't particularly fond of this time around, it was the music. It certainly isn't terrible, it does have some beautiful moments, but at the same time it did feel a little too modern and could've been more subtly orchestrated. The song was pleasant enough, though I imagine that many people, including myself, will much prefer the ethereal beauty of Walking in the Air rather than the occasionally overpowering Coldplay-like feel of the song in The Snowman and the Snowdog.However, I cannot deny at all that the animation is great. It is remarkably faithful to the style of The Snowman, to the other Raymond Briggs animated adaptations(Father Christmas and The Bear) and to the illustrations of the stories, and the handcrafting in detail and in colour looks really splendid. The story is also a strong asset, the middle has a little more going on, including a very amusing skiing race between the snowmen and a penguin, while the friendship between the boy, dog and snowman is charming in its whimsy and innocence yet remains upbeat on the most part and I did find the beginning and the end part with the snowdog very touching.What was also good was that while it was very faithful in spirit to The Snowman, it even has a wonderfully silent atmosphere, because of the nice touch with finding the things under the floorboards, it didn't feel too much like a rehash. The ending is not as heart-wrenching as in The Snowman, but it still has that losing your best friend vibe- which would choke anybody up, whether they've been in that situation or not- that does still make it a moving moment. All the characters have a lot of appeal to them. Overall, pleasing and charming but I do think it is understandable if anybody is disappointed in some sort of way with The Snowman and the Snowdog. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Shawn Watson I don't care if it causes traffic misery, we need a white Xmas every year or it just ain't right. Can you imagine how dreary this would look if it were pissing with rain instead? The Snowman, and this sequel, are representations of the Xmases we wish we could have, regardless of age.A young boy moves into the house seen in the previous cartoon where he soon finds a box beneath the floorboards containing The Snowman's hat and scarf. Since his little dog just died he decides to rebuild the Snowman as well as a Snowdog. Xmas magic happens, the tubby dude comes to life, and he whisks the boy away to the North Pole to take part in some winter games with a gathering of other snowmen and meet Santa.The music is nice enough, but it's not as memorable as Walking in the Air. The animation and landscape are gorgeous, as expected, though. It treads pretty much the same ground as the first, and comes across as a modern remake rather than a sequel (did we really need the exact same sad ending again?), and I can't see it becoming a classic, but it's a very nice way to spend 25 minutes.