Review of Pied Piper Of Hamelin, The / Reluctant Dragon, The

Introduction

We`re all familiar with Cosgrove Hall`s output for ITV childrens` television in the 1980`s - Chorlton and the Wheelies, Dangermouse and The Wind In The Willows. During the period, the studio also made a number of very well-received special programmes. This disc features two of these half-hour films.

The Pied Piper is a BAFTA award winning short from 1980 and directed by Mark Hall. Narrated by Robert Hardy, it is a highly stylised piece of work. Like Chorlton and Wind In The Willows, the animation is of the three-dimensional King Kong variety, where jointed figures are manipulated on miniature sets. The characters in Pied Piper are all animated in mime, with static faces where only the eyes move and occasionally expressions change. It is a very limited style of animation, and one should be generous and claim that artistic reasoning was behind it all rather than cost and time considerations.

The Reluctant Dragon, adapted from the story by Kenneth Grahame, was made in 1987 and directed by Bridget Appleby. Like Pied Piper, the animation is limited, but much more time and character animation has been put into the eponymous dragon. The result is still disappointing, and is really only proof of how television animation (and animation in general in the UK) had deteriorated by the 1980`s. These films were heralded as classics of their time. One cannot argue with the contribution to the art of animation in this country that Mark Hall and Brian Cosgrove made, but in comparison with their character driven series such as Wind In The Willows, or Nick Park`s work at Aardman animation there is little to admire about either of these two films.

Video

Presented in the original 1.33:1 tv framing, these films have not stood up well to the passage of time. The image on both titles suffers from frame weave (probably due to being shot on 16mm), colours are insipid and the image is distinctly soft. The stylised animation does not help, giving the impression of being done in haste (which could not be further from the truth as animation of this kind is by its nature meticulously done).

Audio

The sound is in mono.

Features

The only extras are clips of the end credits, listed on the menus as "cast and credits". Without so much as subtitles there is little to recommend this title.

Conclusion

These are the sort of animated films that middle-class parents think their children *should* watch. Digging these out of the vault, ClearVision has done Cosgrove Hall and the nation`s children no favours.