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Dom Robinson reviews
- Cert:
- Cat.no: BBCDVD 1028
- Running time: 29 minutes
- Year: 1999
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 6 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English for the hard of hearing
- Widescreen: 1.77:1 (16:9)
- 16:9-enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: No
- Disc Format: DVD 5
- Price: £12.99
- Extras: Photo Gallery, Music Video
Cast:
- Robbie: Ardal O’Hanlon
Donner: Jane Horrocks
Blitzen: Steve Coogan
Vixen: Caroline Quentin
Old Jingle: Harry Enfield
Head Elf: Rhys Ifans
Santa: Ricky Tomlinson
Mrs Santa: Jean Alexander
Prancer/Elf 2/Polar Bear: Paul Whitehouse
Des/Alan: Alistair McGowan
Elf 3: Tony Anscombe
Narrator: Robbie Williams
Robbie the Reindeeris another short film from Aardman Animations, creators of Wallaceand Gromit, in which Santa’s sleigh team have been increased by one withthe arrival of Robbie (Father Ted‘s Ardal O’Hanlon) as theirnew navigator because he’s got the nose to lead the way.
To ensure he gets the job on the one night of the year that matters though,he’ll need to get fit, as the reindeer least in shape will have to stayhome. While there he faces competition from Blitzen (Steve Coogan)and falls in love with Vixen (Caroline Quentin), but to win therespect of her and the rest of Robbie’s team-mates, he must take part in theannual reindeer games.
The cast also includes AbFab‘s Jane Horrocks as Donner,The Royle Family‘s Ricky Tomlinson as Santa and Corrie‘sHilda Ogden (Jean Alexander) as his wife. ImpressionistAlistair McGowan fills in as the spoof voices of Des Yeti and hissidekick Alan Snowman, while other characters are voiced by Harry Enfield,Rhys Ifans, Paul Whitehouse and Tony Anscombe. The narrator forthe story is pop-star Robbie Williams.
As the BBC’s SkyDigital picture quality goes to pot because of theirinsistence to drop the bitrate and let the artifacts dominate, rest assuredthis disc suffers no such problems. It’s presented in anamorphic 16:9 widescreen.The average bitrate is 5.38Mb/s, varying wildly and often peaking over 9Mb/s.
One pleasant surprise is the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack which is implementedall the way throughout the film for many a special effect.
Extras :A 23-page photo gallery shows the various stages of animation forRobbie and there’s a Music Video for “Come Fly with Me”, sungby Robbie Williams. The DVD links this to the end of the film to extend therunning time to 32 minutes, as stated on the back of the box.
There are only six chapters, but it’s not a particularly long short filmand it contains subtitles in English for the hard of hearing.
All the menus are animated with sound as well.
Overall, it’s an enjoyable piece of entertainment even if the DVD is a biton the short side for £12.99. Fans looking to collect all the AardmanAnimations output will no doubt buy it though.
DVD Trivia: The music is performed by Mark Knopfler andall profits from the sale of this DVD go to Comic Relief.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.