Review of Annabelle`s Wish

Introduction

The Christmas market is huge but has certain time constraints- nothing before September and after the January sales! Several discs can therefore be released year on year as long as there are small children with a few hours to fill before Santa arrives. So here comes another Christmas issue DVD. This film was originally released on video and is a simple tale aimed at the very young about the magic of Christmas Eve.
"Annabelle`s Wish" based on a farmyard legend that on every Christmas Eve animals are granted the power of speech. It`s a good job it`s not the turkey in the yard though or nobody would get any Christmas dinner! Annabelle, a calf born on Christmas Eve is given to Billy by Santa. Billy is a little boy who can’t talk since a dreadful fire in the barn nearly killed him He has been brought up by his Grandfather since the death of his parents, however his rather self-centred aunty now decides that she needs to take him to live with her. The local boys bully him and his only other friend is a girl who seems to know what he wants before he does. Annabelle`s dearest wish is to fly with Santa`s reindeer but she gives it up to help Billy.
Cue the tissues for a sentimental tale.

Video

Made for video this cartoon is presented in the original ratio.
The colours are bright and clear, attractive for the young market that this is aimed at. The animation is fairly traditional with no sophisticated characterisation.

Audio

Perfectly acceptable but no real challenges are laid down by the subject matter. For those with an interest in Soundtracks the three featured songs are quite enjoyable, particularly "The World From Way Up Here" by the now Grammy winning Alison Krause She has featured on soundtracks from the Coen Brothers` "O Brother Where Art Thou?" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." The soundtrack has a country feel and the narration is also by Randy Travis.

Features

The Animated Menus look attractive and offer the following options:

Trailer for the film. I`m not sure the children will get much out of watching the TV commercial after all it will be on Children`s TV endlessly and no doubt this will inspire the pestering to buy, buy, buy.

What can You Remember? - A very, very short memory test for the very young all now so mouse proficient that this will offer little challenge.

Spot the Difference-two stills with 10 differences. That`s it.

Song Selection-useful add on allows the very young to play their favourite song endlessly.
The Production-Some fairly short details about the cast and the scoring of the movie and a reference to the Make a Wish Foundation. It appears from this that the lead voice actors are involved with the charity. The company that produced the DVD is committed to giving $1m dollars to this charity that grants wishes to children with life threatening illnesses.

"Make A Wish Foundation"- a short documentary of how some of these wishes were granted. It is more moving than the cartoon but I wanted more detail that would be useful especially as this charity is international and only the projects in the United States were shown. It does not explain how much money goes from individual purchases. Much more of this could be made on the package.

Conclusion

A wish for Christmas? Well it`s not on my list but having said that it`s an undemanding tale. There are gaping holes in the plot only unnoticed by the very young and the characters are bland, the animation is dull but the songs are pleasant enough. What I`m trying to say is it may keep young children pacified whilst waiting for Christmas Eve. It passes an hour and will leave you with a tear in your eye if you are not completely cynical. However it is no great advance on the cinematic art and will soon be discarded for more sophisticated offerings.