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Creature Comforts

Creature Comforts

List Price: $9.99
Your Price: $9.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good, but not in the "Wallace & Gromit"/"Chicken Run" level
Review: This DVD includes four shorts from the company that produced the Wallace & Gromit shorts. These are:

1) Creature Comforts - directed by Nick Park, this short is only five minutes long. It is a funny concept: animals are interviewed at a zoo, and they talk about the advantages and drawbacks of captivity. This, however, gives no space to the excellent action scenes that charactherize Park's best work. It is just the animals talking in front of the microphone.

2) Wat's Pig - this one narrates the story of two brothers separated at birth: one ends as king, the other is raised by a pig. There is no payoff here at the end.

3) Not without my handbag - this one is weird, in the line of Beetlejuice. Some people say it is a little scary for small children. I don't think is scarier than other cartoons in TV. This is the funnier of the lot.

4) Adam - a small (and naked) man in a small planet, "a la The Little Prince", while his creator (God) works on him. Interesting, and more in line with the visual humor that we expect.

Somes notes regarding the price. Ten dollars sounds cheap for a DVD disc but consider that it is only 35 minutes long, it is not close captioned and lacks any extras. The transference, as noted by other reviewers, is not great (while maybe better than VHS, but that is expected).

I will recommend this disc only to the die hard fans of clay animation.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great -- but 4 short films and nothing else
Review: "Creature Comforts" is the name of the first claymation short that is worth the small price of the DVD. The film was done by the creator of the popular "Wallace & Grommit" series. It is an documentatry style interview with various British zoo animals about their living conditions. Very hilarious. My favorite is the Brazilian big cat (panther?) that discusses needing space. Although the turtles are a close second with their antics in the background.

The other three shorts are watchable, but only so-so. I would not recommend "Adam" or "Not Without My Handbag" for children. "Creature Comforts" would be okay -- but the humor would most likely be over their heads. The remaining "Watt's Pig" is okay for kids (I guess) but a bit boring for adults.

The DVD had the opportunity to show how the art was done, etc... which would have been very interesting. However, nothing extra is done.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great potatoes, but very little meat...
Review: From Aardman Animation Studios, creators of Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run, come four wonderful animation shorts.

The first, Creature Comforts, winner of the 1990 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film, is cute, as various zoo animals are interviewed on what it's like to live in a zoo. This one contained some of the funniest moments of the four shorts on this disc. This short runs about 6 minutes.

The second short, Wat's Pig, is a story of two brothers born into nobility and separated at a young age, one becoming the ruler of a kingdom, and the other a poor peasant, and what happens when a neighboring kingdom decides to declare war. This one runs about 11 minutes.

The third short, Not Without My Handbag, is a darkly humorous tale, which is, as other reviewers put it, in a rather different style of animation than the other three shorts. The style and story line reminded me a lot of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. Due to the darker humor of the subject matter here, it may not be appropriate for younger viewers. This one runs about 11 minutes.

The final short, Adam, is a funny look at the first being created, and the problems he must face in a rather limited environment. This one runs approximately 6 minutes.

In all, there is about 35 minutes of material here (no extras), and even at a seemingly lower price, one must consider if it's worth the money. I did enjoy all the shorts, but I do wish they could have included more, even if it meant a higher cost. I would have liked seen these included as extras on either a Wallace and Gromit or Chicken Run DVD, but to release so few on one DVD seems a little wasteful. I feel like I've just had the appetizer, and now I am waiting for the entree.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not just Nick Park ...
Review: Creature Comforts is just a 5 minute film but of such quality that it is worth the $9.99 price of the tape. The 3 shorts on the rest of the tape are by other animators, and not my first choice. Although they are first-rate claymation, they are not great stories. In fact, if I were a child, the "handbag" one (though really cute looking) would creep me out a bit. However, I disagree with other(s) (...) who think the 1st short, "Creature Comforts," is not for children. I think kids will enjoy it, and as they grow, understand the many layers of meaning in it. As for the 2nd one - "Watt's Pig" - this is perfect for children as it is pure pantomime and set in the middle ages with castles and knights. It also demonstrates good morals. But the main reason why I insist on owning this tape is ... the title short, "Creature Comforts," is one of the best short films of any kind, and frankly I have to have it around just to show people. No matter how many times I've seen that one, it's still great. It's a bogus documentary interviewing animals at the zoo and their perception of how they are treated, and the living conditions. It is brilliant, a work of art.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: So-so
Review: While "CC" and "Adam" are modern masterpieces, it seems the other, weaker shorts included on this release are merely there to pad out the DVD. Still, the price is very reasonable

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good, but not in the "Wallace & Gromit"/"Chicken Run" level
Review: This DVD includes four shorts from the company that produced the Wallace & Gromit shorts. These are:

1) Creature Comforts - directed by Nick Park, this short is only five minutes long. It is a funny concept: animals are interviewed at a zoo, and they talk about the advantages and drawbacks of captivity. This, however, gives no space to the excellent action scenes that charactherize Park's best work. It is just the animals talking in front of the microphone.

2) Wat's Pig - this one narrates the story of two brothers separated at birth: one ends as king, the other is raised by a pig. There is no payoff here at the end.

3) Not without my handbag - this one is weird, in the line of Beetlejuice. Some people say it is a little scary for small children. I don't think is scarier than other cartoons in TV. This is the funnier of the lot.

4) Adam - a small (and naked) man in a small planet, "a la The Little Prince", while his creator (God) works on him. Interesting, and more in line with the visual humor that we expect.

Somes notes regarding the price. Ten dollars sounds cheap for a DVD disc but consider that it is only 35 minutes long, it is not close captioned and lacks any extras. The transference, as noted by other reviewers, is not great (while maybe better than VHS, but that is expected).

I will recommend this disc only to the die hard fans of clay animation.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: So-so
Review: While "CC" and "Adam" are modern masterpieces, it seems the other, weaker shorts included on this release are merely there to pad out the DVD. Still, the price is very reasonable

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Cheap Presentation
Review: While considerable time and money were spent producing the four short films presented on this DVD, very little went into producing the DVD itself - and it shows.

Individually, the four shorts are nice, although the vocal tracks are muddy and overpowered by the musical soundtrack in places. Closed captions or subtitles would have been helpful, but they aren't included.

Unfortunately, you can't watch the features individually. Even though there is a "Play All" option on the menu screen, if you start with "Creature Comforts" all four shorts will play.

"Creature Comforts" is the best of the four, but because of the poor sound it also suffers the most. With no commentary track or making-of bonus feature the irony of the interviews (talking with kids about zoos and seniors about retirement homes) is lost.

"Wat's Pig" - with its minimal dialogue - comes across nicely, although the parallel storylines can be hard for younger viewers to follow. As with all four of the films a commentary or making-of feature would have been nice.

"Not Without My Handbag" has a good Tim Burton-esque style, but unless you're prepared to discuss the afterlife, the underworld, or the intricacies of contract law, it's not really appropriate for younger viewers. This is where the individual-play bug in the main menu is most apparent, as you have to manually stop the DVD after "Wat's Pig" (or hit the Skip button) to avoid this one.

"Adam" is my second favorite, and with its minimalist soundtrack it comes across the best of the four. Yes, there is cartoonish nudity. No, it doesn't conform to the Biblical chain of events. Nevertheless, it is a very witty story with three or four big laughs in its brief play time.

Ultimately, this DVD is worth less than the sum of its parts. Wait for something better to come along.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: American viewers are left out.
Review: This DVD is good, but only has four shorts on it. The Aardman Classics DVD (region 2 only) has these four shorts plus around 22 more! So that one has other shorts like "Next" and "War Story" which have not been released on DVD in the U.S. (yet). I don't know why they didn't release that here instead of just a fraction of it. Anyway, you should check out this DVD, especially if you like claymation.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Price is okay. Just not up to snuff.
Review: I (like just about everyone else who has bought this) expected it to be more of a rough/early Nick Park production. While the title film "Creature Comforts" is entertaining, the other three films really didn't measure up. I know this was done well before most of the Wallace and Gromit work, but it doesn't stand up very well on its own. If they would have had some "Making Of..." special features talking about how the techniques led to W&G or Chicken Run, I could have enjoyed it quite a lot. But, by themselves, the four shorts just aren't all that great.


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