For anyone who hasn?t seen any episodes from this groovy little UK series before, it?s a unique animation experience. It?s a simple idea that works well. The original short claymation film ?Creature Comforts?, produced by Nick Park in 1989, won an Academy Award in 1990. In this, a selection of zoo creatures are interviewed to get their opinions on how they are treated, what their individual likes and dislikes are etc. It?s all about the personalities of the animals. The voices are taken straight off the UK streets, and the effect is quite wonderful. It mixes the extraordinary (i.e. that animals can talk) and the mundane (i.e. the everyday chatter that we hear) perfectly. So ? the idea has grown from this into the 2003 series, of which 6 short films (of the 13 made) are included in this DVD.

These are easy to watch in one sitting. At less than 10 minutes each, you don?t even need an hour to watch all the films. There?s a lot to like about this very charming style of animation. Being 3-dimensional characters makes them seem more real than standard animation. The expressions you can get, and miniscule movements that clay allows are so subtle, and it?s fun looking for these little movements. I found a couple of ?doosies?. And I?ll bet I missed lots more. Every time the lioness is interviewed, the hand of the man holding the microphone is trembling?ever so slightly?and when a police dog is interviewed, one of his eyes has a slight spasm periodically, and it?s really amusing. Loved all this kind of detail, it further established the personality of the animals interviewed. The range of background settings are also great. You can watch for stuff going on in them. The rubbish dump where the seagulls are interviewed is scarily real, for example.

I found another level, aside from all of this amazing animation. I?m convinced there is a message in all of this! I think it hopes to reinforce in viewers a sense of wonder at the range of creatures in the world, and inspire genuine respect for their ?feelings?, so to speak, as well as their environments. Clearly, they have needs ? how very ?human? it seems, all of a sudden. They just don?t normally express these needs in words. Until now! Although a lot of the chatter is mundane, there are a lot of lines to read between. The animation director of this series, Richard Goleszowski, states that his aim was to create characters whose behaviour demonstrates another level of communication besides what is being said. Just like we do. The settings also have something to say to us. It all conspires to create a fresh perspective on the critters living around us. I should say, these short films are meant primarily to amuse us, not get us all introspective and deep, but I think there?s a more serious subtext bubbling under the surface.

These six short films are themed as follows - ?The Circus?, ?Pets at the Vets?, ?Working Animals?, ?The Sea?, ?Feeding Time? and ?The Garden?. I?m sure you can get a sense of the range of creatures you?ll encounter in these films from the titles.

In closing, I want to quickly mention that the voices are provided courtesy of the general public, and the accents are many and varied. Pairing them up with particular creatures always produces a wonderfully bizarre effect. At times the dialogue can be a bit tricky to pick up due to the variety of voices, ages and accents. But this whole concept also adds to the uniqueness of each characters.

THE EXTRAS

There are extras, not too many, and they?re just enough to make you appreciate the huge amount of work that goes into making the final product. Aardman Animations are a unique studio dedicated to the production of claymation art. By the way ? the motion menus are really groovy. Apart from the standard episode selection, there?s a bonus section that features the following extras:

Creating Creature Comforts

(2003) 23.40

This is a thorough behind-the-scenes expose. We meet loads of folk from the Aardman Animations studio in England (i.e. company founders, series creator, animation director, producer, script editor, production manager, pre-production manager, editor, director of photography, character designers, animators, set builders). You name them, they?re in this mini-documentary! This series of Creature Comforts required 150+ clay models (speaking, background and walk-on) to be made. If they managed to shoot 2 ?3 seconds of footage in a day, they had a productive day on the set. Sounds like bugger all, but it shows how much work is involved in making the series.

Bringing Creature Comforts to Life

(2003) 4.00

A few brief segments from the series are shown, running alongside the animation director?s ?live action video?, where he acts out the physical movements he wants the animators to create in the characters as they talk. You can definitely notice that the finished product includes more character movement than the director indicates he wants. It just goes to show that collaboration between director and animator obviously occurs in the process.

Who?s Missing?

This is a weird combination of a mini-quiz (for kids) and a couple of pages of information about some of the characters. It?s fairly crappy.

Oscar Winning Short

(1989) 5.00

We get to see the original ?Creature Comforts? Aardman short that won an Academy Award in 1990, produced by Nick Park. Same concept as this series, but the character design and the whole look of the piece is far less polished than this series. That?s progress.

Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo

This is a brief advert for a PC game ? easily the loudest of all the items on this DVD, complete with a bit of techno thrown in. Sure to catch the kids attention! I never would?ve expected to see a game with Wallace and Gromit as the action heroes. Bizarre.

Trailer ? as you would expect

ROM Content ? didn?t bother to check it out.

CONCLUSION

Aardman Animations, the creators of ?Wallace & Gromit? and ?Chicken Run?, now offer a charming selection from their 2003 series of claymation short-films that literally speak to all the weird and wacky creatures that we normally take for granted. From moggies to walrus to slugs?.they?ve all got something to say. And the general public provides the voices. I think kids would enjoy the visual, but adults will get more out of this collection of 6 shorts, as what?s being said, and how it?s being said is the point of the series. Subtleties abound. At under 10 minutes each, they?re easy to watch. Extras are decent, not overloaded. It?s a great little DVD collection. If you want something unique, a little out of the ordinary, look no further. Oh, by the way, the claymation characters and settings are fantastic!