Creature Comforts - Merry Christmas Everybody
Why are the AardmanCreature Comfortsprograms so utterly delightful? The concept is simple--using on-the-street-style interviews as the soundtrack, everyday British people are animated as a variety of claymation animals--and the execution is gracefully unpretentious. But thanks to an uncanny eye for physical nuance and telling facial expressions, these off-the-cuff conversations (in the case of this Christmas special, it's mostly on the topic of the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas", with its lords-a-leaping and calling birds) become deliciously funny and adorable. A dog has a fit of giggles when the interviewer admits he's allergic to pets; a pair of pit bulls have saucy thoughts about maids-a-milking; a cynical hamster imitates the Queen giving her Christmas address; and much, much more, from cats and birds to slugs, bats, and a sleepy turtle. The Aardman animators are geniuses, that's all there is to it. (One caveat:Merry Christmas Everybodyis also included onCreature Comforts - The Complete Second Season.)--Bret Fetzer