If your knowledge of British animation is limited to Wallace and Gromit and Thunderbirds reruns, then check out The Toy Town Story Adventures. These delightful stop-action shorts have been favorites with BBC audiences since their début in the 1950s but are virtually unknown outside the UK. Five of the best entries in this series have finally crossed the Atlantic in this wonderful video release.
Based on the writings of S. G. Hulme Beaman, The Toy Town Story Adventures focuses on the misadventures of Larry the Lamb, a well-intentioned but bumbling woolball, and the unctuous Dennis the Dachsund. Neither seems to have the talent for maintaining long-term employment, and the films find them as plumbers wrecking the mayor's residence in search of a leak, treasure hunters who inspire a police station bombing, stagehands who get stuck in a dragon costume, and apprentice magicians whose attempts at wizardry lead them to the edge of self-immolation. Throughout their zany endeavors, the duo never loses its air of classic British understatement or genteel absurdity, and the low-key demeanor both display while facing their dadaist mishaps is far funnier than any manic physical comedy.
The stop-action animation here, with its intricate figurines and jolly production design, will remind many of classic TV shows like Gumby and Davey and Goliath, or memorable Rankin-Bass films such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and The Little Drummer Boy. The shorts literally appeal to all ages and degrees of sociability - young ones can learn from the happy endings in which all misunderstandings and dilemmas are sorted out, while more jaded viewers will appreciate seeing pompous politicians and bumbling cops as they receive more than their fair share of slapstick knockabout.
The Toy Town Story Adventures is a welcome addition of an undiscovered (at least on these shores) animation classic. Let's hope that more of these wonderful cartoons find their way out of England.
##### The Toy Town Story Adventures: US$9.95. American Home Entertainment: +1 (818) 765 1777, (800) 422 6484.
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Sweet TeleSuiteUnplugging State Science
A British Toy Story
