The Gruffalo (film)

The Gruffalo is a 2009 animated fantasy short television film based on the 1999 picture book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler.

Directed by Jakob Schuh and Max Lang, the film was produced by Michael Rose and Martin Pope of Magic Light Pictures, London, and Orange Eyes Limited, in association with the award-winning Studio Soi in Ludwigsburg, Germany, who developed and created the film., and produced in association with the BBC, Nick Jr. and ZDF.

The cast includes Helena Bonham Carter, Rob Brydon, Robbie Coltrane, James Corden, John Hurt, and Tom Wilkinson.

9.8 million people watched the UK premiere on BBC One, Friday 25 December 2009 and the film went on to receive nominations for both an Academy Award and a BAFTA.

It was screened in US theatres, distributed by Kidtoon Films. In December 2012, the film and its sequel The Gruffalo's Child premiered on television in the United States on Disney Junior, and in December 2017 – 2018, the film and its sequel premiered on television in the United States on the Disney Junior channel.

Plot
In an autumn wood, a Red squirrel mother finds a nut. Her children are playing until they see an owl. The mother squirrel drops the nut as she escapes from the owl, but her shocked children want her to tell them a story. So she tells the story of a mouse strolling through a deep dark wood.

The mouse tries to find a nut to eat but he can not reach it, so he makes a journey to a beautiful nut tree. Encountering three carnivorous animals along the way, who all wish to eat him—first a fox (who wants to cook the mouse), then an owl (who wants to eat the mouse for tea), and finally a snake (who wants to choke and eat the mouse) -- the plucky mouse uses his wits to survive. He lies to each animal that he is meeting a monster (calling his imaginary beast a ‘Gruffalo’), describes his terrible features, says that he is meeting him "here", and that the Gruffalo's favourite food is whichever animal he is being threatened by (roasted fox, owl ice cream, and scrambled snake). Each predator then panics and flees, but later they all gather and talk about what the mouse said, realizing they have been tricked.

The mouse feels so confident that he finally reaches the nut tree and suddenly comes face to face with a real Gruffalo, exactly as he had described it. When the Gruffalo catches and threatens to eat him, the mouse uses his wits again and says that everyone in the wood is afraid of him, asking the Gruffalo to follow him and see. As the two of them meet the animals again, the presence of the Gruffalo frightens them away, but the Gruffalo believes they are afraid of the mouse. As the Gruffalo prepares to eat the mouse, the mouse's tummy rumbles and he says his favourite food is Gruffalo crumble, causing the Gruffalo to retreat in fear. Finally safe, he finds the nut from earlier, which the Gruffalo had knocked down, and can eat it in peace.

When the mother squirrel ends her story, the children feel better and they all go to retrieve their nut as snow begins to fall. In the end credits, the house of the snake (Brydon) is seen.

Voice cast

 * Helena Bonham Carter as Mother Squirrel/Narrator
 * James Corden as Mouse
 * Tom Wilkinson as Fox
 * John Hurt as Owl
 * Rob Brydon as Snake
 * Robbie Coltrane as The Gruffalo
 * Sam Lewis as First Little Squirrel
 * Phoebe Givron-Taylor as Second Little Squirrel

Background and production
The Gruffalo, written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler, was published in 1999 and has sold over 5 million copies worldwide. In a BBC Radio 2 poll in 2009, the book was voted as the UK's favourite bedtime story. The book has been adapted into a 27-minute animated film, which was broadcast on BBC One in the UK on 25 December 2009. This new version features Robbie Coltrane in the title role and James Corden as the mouse as well as Helena Bonham Carter as the mother squirrel narrator and Rob Brydon as the Snake. The production was animated at the award-winning Studio Soi in Germany and produced through Magic Light Pictures. The film also has the voices of John Hurt as the Owl and Tom Wilkinson as the Fox. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Film (Animated) on 25 January 2011. The film was also nominated for a BAFTA in 2010.

Reception
The film premiered on BBC One, Christmas Day 2009, watched by 9.8 million people. Review website Den of Geek described it as an "utterly charming piece of magic".

The film has been broadcast across the world, including on ZDF in Germany. It premiered on United States television on 9 December 2010 on ABC Family during its 25 Days of Christmas programming block. It also aired on YTV in Canada on 18 December 2011.

The Gruffalo has been shown on Nick Jr in the UK and is distributed on DVD by Entertainment One. NCircle distribute the DVD in the US, Kaboom Entertainment, Phase 4 Films, and Nelvana in Canada, and Concorde in Germany.

A Scottish Gaelic version has been produced, with the voice of the Gruffalo provided by Bill Paterson. An Gruffalo was first shown on BBC Alba on Christmas Eve 2010.

The film has also proved a hit with festival audiences around the world. On top of its Academy Award and BAFTA nominations, it has also been awarded prizes at festivals including the Annecy International Animation Festival (France), Anima Mundi (Brazil), The Broadcast Awards 2011 (UK), Cartoons on the Bay (Italy), Chicago International Children's Festival (USA), CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival (Canada), Ottawa International Animation Festival (Canada), Prix Jeunesse (Germany??), Sapporo Short Fest (Japan), Shanghai Television Festival (China) and Internationales Trick Film Festival (Germany). The Gruffalo was also nominated for the prestigious Cartoon d'or 2011.

Sequel
The sequel to the Gruffalo, based on the follow-up to the picture book, was shown on BBC One on Christmas Day 2011.