Review of The Gruffalo (2009) by Philip S — 20 Sep 2011

The Gruffalo is one of those rare movies for which so much could be said. For a movie that's barely not even half an hour long, that's saying a lot. That's because so much is done right with this adapation of the classic children's book. Far too many children's books have been adapted for both the silver screen, and the small screen, only to fail in trying to live up to the hype surrounding them. The recent big screen adaptations of Dr. Seuss' classic children's books are prime examples of movies based on kids' books that got it mostly--if not entirely--wrong. Of the ones that have gotten it wrong were The Cat in The Hat, and Horton Hears a Who. Unlike those movies, the small screen adaptation of Julia Donaldson's beloved children's book gets everything right.

The primary aspect that The Gruffalo gets right is that it sticks as close as possible to the original children's book from which it was adapted. Even author Julia Donaldson points out in the bonus features that she didn't want to have any Hollywood studio adapt her book because she knew that if she did that, it would potentially lead to the original story being turned into something completely different. The sole fact that the author wanted to maintain the artistic integrity of the original story makes it that much more worthy of being respect.

Speaking of the bonus features, they too add to the overall enjoyment of the movie. The dvd includes only a behind-the-scenes featurette, and a gallery of artwork from the movie. The gallery doesn't really add anything to the overall enjoyment. But the behind-the-scenes featurette does. That's because in watching the movie, it's difficult to tell if the movie is a stop motion work, or cg based. The behind-the-scenes featurette explains that it's actually a combination of both, with even some hand drawn animation thrown in for good measure. Understanding that all three forms of art were so seamlessly interwoven makes for that much more appreciation of the movie.

The art and bonus features go a long way in making for a movie that's enjoyable from start to finish. As mentioned already, the movie isn't that long. It's not even a full half an hour long. That ties back in to the movie staying true to the book. The time length makes it that much more perfect for younger audiences. Most younger audiences tend to have very short attention spans. So to keep the movie as close as possible to the original--and thus relatively short--makes it an ideal movie to show kids perhaps before an afternoon nap, etc. Anything past that near half hour run time would have been pushing it.

The Gruffalo isn't the first movie ever adapted from a children't book. It's also hardly the longest children's movie ever made. Some people may even argue against it because its run time is directly connected to it staying as close as possible to the original book. But in a time when most movies adapted from books change far too many parts of the stories on which they're based (and take themselves far too seriously), The Gruffalo deserves every bit of respect it gets for not being like others. It may not be one of the most memorable children's books/movies ever written. But because of that push to stay true to the original, and its associated run time, The Gruffalo will go down as one of the most underrated works in movie history.