Robbie The Reindeer: Hooves Of Fire (1) (1999) -
Okay, so the animation for this short but cute film wasn't the best, the humour was great though and the voice actors did a fantastic job too.
There were some brilliant characterisations and a good storyline that followed the most famous reindeer's son Robbie (Ardal O'Hanlon) as he made a half arsed effort to join Father Christmas' sleigh pulling team, with the help of some of the original team, Donna (Jane Horrocks), Prancer (Paul Whitehouse) and a weird old loon called Jingle (Harry Enfield).
Blitzen however, played by Steve Coogan, didn't want Robbie on the team and his jealousy towards Rob's Dad, whose name must not be mentioned had embittered him to try anything to stop the new lad from succeeding.
There were some superb small touches throughout the script and the claymation scenery. Certainly there were some typically British moments to be appreciated by us natives, especially with the inclusion of Des Yeti and Alan Snowman (Both played by Alistair McGowan).
Santa (Ricky Tomlinson) and Mrs Claus (Jean Alexander) however were a tad scary. I thought that if they'd been the traditionally cutesy characters that we know and love from so many other Christmas cartoons, but oblivious to the evil of Blitzen and the stupidity of Robbie, it would have worked as a stronger and funnier story.
I did love this one though. The sequels struggled to replicate its joy and initial impact, but this one still tickled me almost 25 years later.
759.09/1000.
Okay, so the animation for this short but cute film wasn't the best, the humour was great though and the voice actors did a fantastic job too.
There were some brilliant characterisations and a good storyline that followed the most famous reindeer's son Robbie (Ardal O'Hanlon) as he made a half arsed effort to join Father Christmas' sleigh pulling team, with the help of some of the original team, Donna (Jane Horrocks), Prancer (Paul Whitehouse) and a weird old loon called Jingle (Harry Enfield).
Blitzen however, played by Steve Coogan, didn't want Robbie on the team and his jealousy towards Rob's Dad, whose name must not be mentioned had embittered him to try anything to stop the new lad from succeeding.
There were some superb small touches throughout the script and the claymation scenery. Certainly there were some typically British moments to be appreciated by us natives, especially with the inclusion of Des Yeti and Alan Snowman (Both played by Alistair McGowan).
Santa (Ricky Tomlinson) and Mrs Claus (Jean Alexander) however were a tad scary. I thought that if they'd been the traditionally cutesy characters that we know and love from so many other Christmas cartoons, but oblivious to the evil of Blitzen and the stupidity of Robbie, it would have worked as a stronger and funnier story.
I did love this one though. The sequels struggled to replicate its joy and initial impact, but this one still tickled me almost 25 years later.
759.09/1000.