Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
A young boy makes a snowman one Christmas Eve, which comes to life at midnight and takes him on a magical adventure to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus.
The Snowman is a beautifully hand-drawn animated short that stands out for its wordless, watercolour-style cinematography — soft, dreamlike visuals that remain genuinely distinctive. The plot is simple and slight, a gentle episodic journey rather than a structured narrative, which keeps it warm but unambitious. The vocal performance of Peter Auty on 'Walking in the Air' elevates the emotional register considerably. Novelty is solid but not exceptional — the wordless animated adaptation of a picture book is a known form, though this executes it with real grace. The ending, while poignant and earned, is familiar in its bittersweet Christmas-morning melancholy.