The Gruffalo (film) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Gruffalo
Poster for The Gruffalo
Based on	The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
Written by	Julia Donaldson Axel Scheffler
Directed by	Max Lang Jakob Schuh
Starring	Helena Bonham Carter Rob Brydon Robbie Coltrane James Corden John Hurt Tom Wilkinson
Theme music composer	René Aubry
Country of origin	United Kingdom, Germany
Original language(s)	English, German
Production
Producer(s)	Martin Pope Michael Rose
Editor(s)	Robin Sales
Running time	27 minutes
Production company(s)	Magic Light Pictures Orange Eyes Studio Soi
Distributor	Magic Light Pictures
Release
Original network	BBC One and Nick Jr. (UK) ZDF (Germany)
Original release	25 December 2009 (2009-12-25)

The Gruffalo is a 2009 British-German short computer animated TV 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.

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 theaters, distributed by Kidtoon Films. In December 2012, the film and its sequel The Gruffalo's Child premiered on television in the United States on PBS Kids Sprout.

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.

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, then an owl, and finally a snake -- 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 "right here", and that the Gruffalo's favourite food is whichever animal is threatening him at the time. Each predator then panics and flees, but later they realise that they have been tricked.

Mouse is confident until 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, 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: The Gruffalo believes they are afraid of the mouse. As the Gruffalo prepares to eat the mouse, 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 credits is seen the house of the snake.

Voice Cast

• Helena Bonham Carter as Mother Squirrel/Narrator
• James Corden as Mouse (The Main Character)
• Robbie Coltrane as The Gruffalo (The Title Character)
• Tom Wilkinson as Fox (He is more cowardly than Owl and Snake and sneezes a lot)
• John Hurt as Owl (He clicks his tongue and crashes into trees a lot)
• Rob Brydon as Snake (Unlike Fox and Owl, he is pure evil)
• 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.

Awards and nominations

Sequel

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