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To see this short film in it's entirety, use this link (trust me, it's worth it): www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgTpoy91nWo
I rarely bother to review animated short films for 2 specific reasons (though these are not the only ones). Reason #1- Their length rarely exceeds 10 minutes, leaving very little material to discuss. Most short films can be effectively summarized in just a few sentences. Reason #2 is that short films only occasionally have enough depth or elements worth mentioning to make it worth the effort to write a review.
I make an exception for The Snowman because it does not fall under the description of Reason #1 or #2. The Snowman is 26 minutes long, which cancels out Reason #1. And there is just so much depth and details worth mentioning in The Snowman that I felt almost inclined to write a review discussing it (effectively canceling Reason #2). I may also add that part of my reason for writing a review for The Snowman is that it's such a wonderful work of art.
The plot for The Snowman is extremely simple, even for a short film. A young, unnamed boy builds a snowman that comes to life in the middle of the night. The boy, as one might expect, has a wonderful time showing the Snowman around his house, and later flying in the sky with the Snowman.
While the idea of snowmen coming to life has already been covered in various other feature length movies and short films (most notably Frosty the Snowman), The Snowman is far superior to all previous efforts of this concept.
The first half of The Snowman boasts a cozy and relaxing feel. It's cute, it's nostalgic, and it's beautifully innocent. These 13 minutes are basically childhood winters in a nutshell.
Then we hit the halfway mark, where things take a different tonal approach. At this point, the boy and the Snowman decide to take a motorcycle ride through the woods and fields. The feel here is innocent and cute, but less so.
Then the Snowman and the boy start flying (after they have brought the motorcycle back home). At this point, the film feels a bit darker. Part of this darker feel comes from the song that plays here. While this short film is almost completely wordless, this flying segment uses words in a lyrical song called Walking in the Air. This song is playing in a minor key, therefore sounding dark and mysterious. Yet still, the images, while focusing on darker colors, is still playful. The song is beautiful, and this is a truly majestic piece, but the tone here feels a bit off as to what's presented before this.
Also, as a sidenote, the boy that sings this song rolls his r's. I believe this is intentional, but I personally didn't like that. Still, it was more of a subtle irritation than a flaw.
After this flying sequence, the film returns to the more innocent, child-like feel that it started with, which is welcome.
(Spoiler Begins)
Now for this paragraph and the next, I'm going to talk about the ending, so if you want to avoid spoilers, I'd skip these paragraphs. To explain, at the end, we see the boy run outside to play with the Snowman again, as he did the night before, only to see that the Snowman has melted. We see the boy crying, and then the film ends. At first, I was a bit irritated by the abrupt and oddly melancholy ending of this initially warm and pleasing short. Then, as the credits played, I really started thinking. I realized how much I could connect to this child's trauma.
Though I never acted quite so dramatically, I did have a few dreams where I never wanted to wake up from. Not so much because I achieved fame or fortune in my dream, but because I had met a friend, that I somehow felt strongly connected to, like the boy and the Snowman. When I awoke, I felt sad and almost depressed that my friend had left. I had these dreams mostly when I was younger, but I have to admit that I still have these dreams today (though their immensely uncommon). I realized that this short was more beautiful than I initially thought. I had loved it before, I adored it now. It perfectly captured all of those wonderful dreams I had encountered before. This was a true piece of joyous and bittersweet nostalgia.
(Spoiler Ends)
Despite the nostalgia that I experienced at the end, and the overall magical and beautiful picture that The Snowman painted, it's majesty is dampened a bit a short 40 second intro featuring the boy as an older lad (this intro is done in live-action). This intro felt hugely unnecessary, and I really didn't like it. I felt that it made the film feel cheap, and less magical.
The score by Howard Blake is similar to the film itself, in the sense that it's a beautiful interpretation of childhood innocence. There are a few bits in the score that felt a little more empty than others, but overall, it reflects the film's charm and magic.
Few short films have made me feel the way The Snowman has. It's poignant, yet sad. Warm, yet dark. Cute, yet tragic. Childish, but nostalgic. Not all of the narrative detours work, and there are certainly flaws here. But The Snowman is still one of the greatest achievements in short films, and even cinema in general that I've ever seen.
