Too much of everything

Expected more

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

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.

I watched this special twice last Christmas and twice this Christmas and it has been a delight every time, especially on my last two viewings.The animation style is true to that in the original with its flickery yet smooth pencil/pastel drawing look but one feature that surpasses one in the original is the use of colour being more vibrant throughout. The story has more heartbreaking moments than the original what with the first dog having died earlier in the special and the boy and his new dog (originally the cute Snowdog that becomes a real dog when the boy puts on its collar) mourning the loss of the snowman at the end, which is one key similarity to the original. I enjoyed spotting parts that were nods to the original such as the boy recreating the original snowman; the snowman noticing a motorbike in the shed; the flying sequence complete with sights of the Gherkin, Tower Bridge, The Shard and even the OXO Tower; the snow-people party and the boy rushing past his mother down the stairs in a similar manner to James in the original rushing past his father at the bottom of the stairs. Like the original, the music here drives the narrative impeccably. Two standout pieces are the powerful, majestic one accompanying the boy building the titular characters and the sudden notes playing while the Snowdog is in danger of melting in front of the fireplace. While 'Light the Night' by Andy Burrows (probably the special's lowest point) is no 'Walking in the Air,' it is still pleasant and its second instrumental break sounds like 'Viva La Vida' by Coldplay (I can see why my good IMDb friend TheLittleSongbird mentioned them in her review). Another part I found particularly enjoyable was the skiing and sledge race between several snow-people (including the titular snowman), a penguin, the boy and the Snowdog.All in all this is a more than worthy follow-up to 'The Snowman' and it was lovely for this to be made to mark the 30th anniversary of the original, the best assets being the animation, the more vibrant colours and the music. 9/10.

In one of 2012's best horror flicks, boy is mourning the loss of his canine friend when he finds an ensorcelled hat and scarf under his bed. Innocently, he builds a snowman, only to find that at night the hat and scarf bring it to terrifying life. The bizarre snow demon and its dog- homonculus kidnap the boy, subjecting him to all sorts of terrors; in one of the more frightening moments, he sees other snow-demons flying through the air all around them as his own tormentor drags him into a run down a steep hill, seemingly about to crush him against a fence and at the last moment pulls him into a flight among the other creatures, which laugh and cavort at the boy's terror. Truly frightening, and reminds one of the wendigo of Algonquian myth which would drag people to their death, forcing them to run the whole time to survive.The demon then steals a plane from some unsuspecting aviator (why? When it can fly? I can only assume to sow the seeds of more disappointment, as planes are very expensive). The boy is dragged to some far off place where the demons have built a mockery of human society, dancing in outfits clearly meant to parody various social positions. Toward the end of the film, they make the boy race for his life against an evil bird while they dash themselves to pieces on the rocks nearby, careless of their own bodies which are, after all, merely snow shells for the horrifying spirits within.Valiantly, the boy wins, and they are forced to return him home. Seemingly with the coming of the sun the demons lose their powers, and he'll be free, but at the last moment they use their magic to create an amulet which turns the dog-homonculus into a creepy facsimile of the boy's own sadly-departed pet, directly mocking the child's pain. The creature then goes to live with him, watching him sleep, the child's mother knowing nothing and welcoming the new "pet" into the family.Truly, truly scary, in ways almost no short film can aspire to be. Ten out of ten, I recommend to all horror fans.

THE SNOWMAN AND THE SNOWDOG is an attempt to sequelise the much-loved Raymond Briggs classic of the 1980s, a half-hour piece of animation that I challenge anybody to sit through without crying. A perennial favourite that's always in the schedules come Christmastime, THE SNOWMAN is my favourite Christmas film ever, so this sequel/remake has its work cut out.The plus points: well, there's only one really, and that's the quality of the animation. It's done to match the original, and it looks great, refreshingly old-fashioned and hand-drawn instead of modernised.The bad stuff: the storyline is a weak revamp of the original's, with added elements and ingredients that contribute little (the dog, the plane, etc.). It was much better when it was more simple. There's none of the power, danger, devastation or magical stuff from the original. In many places it seems bland, and a bit overly sentimental.With no 'Walking in the Air', the music is also a letdown, just some generic pop-sounding slush added in its place. You can tell that Briggs wasn't involved in the production because whatever magic there was before has long disappeared - or should that be, melted away...