The story is about Santa who is unhappy when he is offered help to deliver presents. After a long, challenging night he rethinks the offers.
This a filmed storybook told through a series of drawings by Joe Dator, whose work you might know from The New Yorker. The camera pans right and left, up and down on the drawings, giving us a varied as it does that. The story line is funny and meaningful. The main character, Santa, blossoms from starting out as a grumpy old guy to accepting himself at the end. He emerges like a butterfly from its cocoon. The film is created by a series of drawings, which I don't usually like, but these are so detailed and so much fun and fanciful, plus they really deliver the story well. The narration is by Glen Heroy who has been playing Santa Claus for nearly 40 years. The script is a poem in iambic pentameter, similar to the classic "The Night Before Christmas" poem. The images are all so detailed. When Santa goes around the world the locations look quite real. If you look closely the images have layers of things on top of each other which makes them look realistic. For example, when Santa is riding on his sleigh, he appears to be closer and the sky is farther away. There is a smidgen of background music here and there, but mostly the only sounds are of the narrator speaking. We meet the narrator at the beginning, dressed in a red sweater with a Nordic pattern that matches the story very well. That is the only time we see the narrator. My absolute favorite part is when Santa yells at the K-pop stars because they say that his belly jiggles -- that is supper funny.
The message of this film is that it is okay that you can't do things and need to ask for help.
I give Santa Doesn't Need Your Help 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 4 to 12, plus adults. Families will enjoy this so much. By Madeleine H. and Julie S., KIDS FIRST!
The story is about Santa who is unhappy when he is offered help to deliver presents. After a long, challenging night he rethinks the offers.
This a filmed storybook told through a series of drawings by Joe Dator, whose work you might know from The New Yorker. The camera pans right and left, up and down on the drawings, giving us a varied as it does that. The story line is funny and meaningful. The main character, Santa, blossoms from starting out as a grumpy old guy to accepting himself at the end. He emerges like a butterfly from its cocoon. The film is created by a series of drawings, which I don't usually like, but these are so detailed and so much fun and fanciful, plus they really deliver the story well. The narration is by Glen Heroy who has been playing Santa Claus for nearly 40 years. The script is a poem in iambic pentameter, similar to the classic "The Night Before Christmas" poem. The images are all so detailed. When Santa goes around the world the locations look quite real. If you look closely the images have layers of things on top of each other which makes them look realistic. For example, when Santa is riding on his sleigh, he appears to be closer and the sky is farther away. There is a smidgen of background music here and there, but mostly the only sounds are of the narrator speaking. We meet the narrator at the beginning, dressed in a red sweater with a Nordic pattern that matches the story very well. That is the only time we see the narrator. My absolute favorite part is when Santa yells at the K-pop stars because they say that his belly jiggles -- that is supper funny.
The message of this film is that it is okay that you can't do things and need to ask for help.
I give Santa Doesn't Need Your Help 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 4 to 12, plus adults. Families will enjoy this so much. By Madeleine H. and Julie S., KIDS FIRST!
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