'Moomins on the Riviera'

In cinemas now!

After quite a long break from our screens, the Moomins finally return in the form of a feature film. ‘Moomins on the Riviera’ sees Moomin (Russell Tovey), Moominmamma (Tracy Ann Oberman) and Moominpappa (Nathaniel Parker), along with Snorkmaiden and Little My, head off for a sea adventure. Out at sea they are caught in a great storm and lose their way before landing on a desert island, but before long they head back out to sea to try and find their way home. However they instead find themselves landing on the French Riviera, much to Snorkmaiden’s delight. As the family try to adjust to their new surroundings their loyalties and family ties are tested through the glitz and glamour, new friendships, romance, and creating a feeling of home.

A sweet and innocent story, it is sure to be a hit with children and adults who remember Tove Jansson’s illustrated books or the television animations. Though older children may unfortunately find it slow in comparison to today’s big Disney, Dreamworks and Pixar movies. It is great to see them sticking to the original animation style and also refreshing to have a simple storyline to follow. However in parts it did seem to be stretched a little too thinly in its transition from shorter episodes to a full feature length film. It would also have been nice to have seen more of Snufkin with his trademark pipe and mouth-organ.

Never the less it is both charming and quietly hilarious in places and will certainly make you fall in love with the characters all over again, following their entertaining and naïve antics while learning some important moral life lessons along the way. ‘Moomins on the Riviera’ is much more innocent than the old television show, which is somewhat a shame as it was these slightly darker elements that made it stand out before. In losing that the whole thing becomes just a bit too sickly sweet, although it was still a good film and will be thoroughly enjoyed by young audiences.

Review by Lydia Kay.
See this review on The Fan Carpet.

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