Creature Comforts : Season 1

The premise of the original short, Creature Comforts, was to take interviews with ordinary people & transform them into comedic animal representations via the medium of claymation. Nick Park & his team developed this brilliantly funny concept through an entire 13 episode series.

This dvd is amazingly funny - even what may be perceived as the weaker episodes have their sparkling moments. If you're a fan of Wallace & Gromit or just a fan of funny animation, this dvd is for you. The format has no definite story line, but rather is a topical discussion - kind of like Dr. Doolittle meets Oprah. Addressing such questions as "Where do we come from?", "Are there aliens?" and "Cats vs. Dogs" - these installments will leave you in stitches. The animation is flawless, the interview editing superb. Just an overall delight.

This DVD, containing 13 new episodes of Creature Comforts is a joy to watch. Like the original, it features claymation animated animals speaking dialogue taken from interviews of British citizens. The animation is beautiful, making the characters really come alive. The humor is typically dry, and like Wallace and Gromit, you will probably either love it or hate it, with no in between. The extras are a wonderful look into the process involved in creating such a work.

I am just adoring Creature Comforts, the BBC series by Nick Park. If you've never seen the original short, you must.

Not too long ago I found out that Aardman Animation did this series with the same concept. In the original Oscar-winning short, people visiting a zoo and living in a nursing home were interviewed, and their responses to the questions were edited and animated so you get to hear animals at the zoo talking about life in the zoo. In the series, that same concept is taken into every other aspect of animal life--animals in the garden, at the beach, in the sea, working jobs, flying, and even discussing evolution and the origin of the species...es. What's the plural of Species? Speci?

When I read the reviews at Amazon.com, I was surprised to see several folks say that "it gets old fast." But I figured I knew what that was about, so we've been rationing ourselves since a friend plucked this DVD off my Amazon.com wishlist and had it sent to me for my birthday. We've been watching no more than three or four a night, including the original short, which is also included on the DVD.

There are some real characters that you get to know through the series. A rat couple sitting out front of their house, relaxing and enjoying the sun. A dog and cat that lounge about on a sofa and have lived together for so long that their comfort together just couldn't be greater. A terrier with an amusing outlook on life and an infectious laugh. Two performing circus monkeys that... hehehe... well, to the educated listener, you can tell they're a little kinky. *snort* It's just so fun!

The wide variety in dialects available to the interviewers and animators clearly helped them with creating these characters--each animal is an ideal choice for the voice and content of its comments. If you didn't know about it, I highly recommend putting it on your list.