Moomins (the Film Polski version)

This gently soulful, stop-motion animated version of Tove Jansson’s Moomintroll stories, made by Film Polski in the late 70s, and adapted into English in the early 80s, is our new favourite. The music and scenery are lovely, and the storytelling is enchanting. The story lines stick very close to Jansson’s books, and Jansson herself was involved with the production. Highly recommended for the whole family!

Age: 4+
Child rating: 10/10
Adult rating: 10/10
Running time: 5-minute episodes
Available: many of the episodes are on youtube

The Aristocats

This is (vintage) Disney, so it goes without saying that there are sexist stereotypes, casual racist stereotypes, and unnecessarily sexy animals – but if you’re prepared to overlook that, it’s an enjoyable film. The illustrations are quite nice (especially the backgrounds), the story is fine, and the music (by the Sherman Brothers) is pretty good. (My main question is: why are there so many drunken characters? I saw drunk cats, a drunk goose, and a drunk guy at a Parisian café – and I was only watching about half the time! Of course this went over the kids’ heads – but I still wonder why they’re there at all. Drunkenness isn’t appropriate for 4 years olds, or 10 year olds – but this is clearly a film for kids, not adults. I guess we can chalk this up to 1970?)

Age: 4+
Child rating: 8/10
Adult rating: 8/10
Running time: 78 minutes
Available: I rented it from Google Play

The North Wind and the Sun: A Fable by Aesop

This is a short, animated retelling of the fable by Aesop. The sun shows the North wind that it’s easier to get people to do what you want by persuasion than by force. The illustrations are nice, and the music is unobjectionable. It’s a bit moralistic (as is the point of Aesop’s fables), but I remember loving these simple morals when I was a kid (and not understanding why my parents didn’t find them as convincing as I did!)

Age: 2+
Child rating: 8/10
Adult rating: 8/10
Running time: 3 minutes
Available: free on the NFB website

Fingerbobs

This is the 70s-est TV show ever (dating from 1972, the same year I was born) – at once wholesome, creative, and… were the creators smoking pot? In this show by British author-illustrators Joanne and Michael Cole, “Yoffy” (Canadian mime artist Rick Jones in real life) animates a variety of homemade finger-puppets, including Fingermouse, Scampi, Gulliver the Seagull, and Flash the Tortoise in a series of gently enchanting stories and do-it-at-home craft projects. My 2 year old and 5 year old both love it.

Age: 0+
Child rating: 10/10
Adult rating: 9/10
Running time: 15 minutes
Several episodes are available free on YouTube

Mr. Dressup

Mr. Dressup is a beloved Canadian kids show, which ran from 1967 to 1996. It has some similarities to Mister Rogers, and indeed, Fred Rogers was a friend and mentor to Ernie Coombs (Mr. Dressup) in the early 60s. Mr. Dressup, together with his puppet friends Casey and Finnegan, tell stories, sing songs, and lead young kids through a variety of craft and creative play ideas.

Age: 1+
Child rating: 10/10
Adult rating: 7/10 (not really directed towards adults — but it will bring back fond memories if you are Canadian!)
Running time: 30 minutes
Available: there are a couple of episodes on YouTube, and a 3-DVD set from CBC

Pick, The Little Mouse

Here’s a sweet, wordless animation by Gennady Sokolsky, which tells of a year in the life of a little field mouse, and contains lush imagery of the natural world. There are a few brief moments which some younger kids may find scary – when the mouse is chased by a boy, some sea birds, and an owl – but everything turns out ok.

Age: 0+
Child rating: 9/10
Adult rating: 9/10
Running time: 17’30”
Available: Available free on Youtube

It’s Snow

This is a beautiful cutout animation by Canadian director Gayle Thomas, made entirely of paper snowflakes. It’s wordless, accompanied by gentle steel pan drum music.

Age: 0+
Child rating: 8/10
Adult rating: 8/10
Running time: 5 minutes
Available: for free here on the NFB website

Royal Ballet – Beatrix Potter Tales

This is the film version of a ballet version of the Tales of Beatrix Potter, performed by members of the Royal Ballet. The tales are told wordlessly, with lavish scenery and costumes, lush music, and colorful, characterful choreography by Frederick Ashton. We all enjoyed this, and M. laughed out loud a number of times. Our favourite so far is The Tale of Two Bad Mice (perhaps not to be watched if your kid is in the mood to copy what he or she sees on the screen).

Age: 0+
Child rating: 9/10
Adult rating: 9/10
Running time: multiple stories, mostly in the 5-10 minute range
Available for free on Youtube in the UK. (Possibly not elsewhere?)

The Story of Christmas

This is a bright and cheerful version of the Christmas story, with luminously painted zinc foil cutout animation against a black background by Evelyn Lambart. The story is told wordlessly with a celebratory renaissance-style soundtrack by Karl Duplessis.

Age: 1+
Adult rating: 9/10
Child Rating: 9/10
Running time: 8 minutes
Available free on the National Film Board of Canada website

The Lion and the Mouse

This is a beautiful and sweet animated version of Aesop’s fable “The Lion and the Mouse,” by Canadian animator Evelyn Lambart (1914-1999). Lambart was initially best known for her collaborations with Norman MacLaren, but later in life developed her own unique and visually arresting style of animation using brightly coloured paper cutouts against a black background, which looks a bit like Russian folk painting. There is no verbal dialogue, but the soundtrack by Maurice Blackburn tells the story in a conversational, semi-improvisatory style. Some children might find the lion a little bit scary, but nothing bad happens, and the mouse and the lion become friends at the end.

(Do be careful if you decided to go on from here to “The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse.” It starts out very gently, but the country mouse takes a gun when he goes to the city. M. doesn’t yet know about guns, so we stopped the video when we got to that point!)

Age: 3+
Adult rating: 9/10
Child Rating: 9/10
Running time: 4 minutes
Available free on the National Film Board of Canada website