Product Description

Wordless (excluding the song "Walking in the Air") animated adventure about a young English boy who makes a snowman one Christmas Eve, only for it to come to life that night and take him on a magical adventure to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #577 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2006-10-24
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 26 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
This charming British animated short film (it's just 23 minutes long) is a 1982 production of London's Channel 4, based on the classic children's book by Raymond Briggs and crafted with a colored-pencils-on-paper look, like fluffy, hand-drawn illustrations. Small children should be entranced by the story of a small boy in rural England whose lovingly constructed snowman comes to life and takes him flying over the white-blanketed landscapes, in a beautiful rotoscoped (traced) sequence based on live-action flying footage. Part of the charm of the film is the gentle, everyday quality of its fantasy adventures: the snowman is invited in to try on clothes and play with the Christmas decorations, then plays host to the boy at a party in the woods, at which his snowy relatives do English country dances. This is one of the very few Christmas tapes on the market that really deserves to be a holiday perennial, a gentle fable of friendship and the power of imagination. --David Chute

Customer Reviews

Memorable and Out of the Ordinary
Not your usual children's video, THE SNOWMAN will transport you to a magical fantasy world with nothing but moving music and gentle images of this little boy and his wonderful snowy friend. No dialog is needed here, you simply sit back and let yourself relax and enjoy the experience. First time I showed this film to my classroom of four year olds they were fixated to the screen and I was amazed at how much emotion the story evoked in me. I bought the film for my own nieces and they watch it over and over, not just at holiday time. It has now become a classic in our own children's video library. A must have for the entire family.

The Snowman
The first time I was able to view this film was with my son's preschool group. The class was silent and all the children sat in awe of the magnificent journey of James and the Snowman. Once the film was finished, they begged the teacher to play it again. I have 7 children ranging in age 14 months to 13 years, and they all love it as well. The touching music and beautiful animation make you feel like you are right there with them on their journey. It brought tears to my eyes when he wakes in the morning to find his snowman gone, but the gift from his trip to visit Santa is still in his pocket, giving him the sense that it wasn't a dream after all.This film has something for everyone.Brilliant!

The music makes it
I bought this video, indeed searched for it after I heard the snowman's song. I take it out to listen to it often. I wish they would release a sound track or something. The song is haunting and lyrical. It feels like flying through a winter sky should feel. Enjoy it for yourself.