“Jingle All the Way” is a collection of 5 animated short films, concocted by the distributor Les films du Préau, composed of films for the most part without words, with just a few words, or a song whose translation was not necessary. Because, indeed, the set is aimed at the little ones, in a set of colors as soft as the stories that are told here. The collection opens with the excellent and tender “Mishou” by Milen Vitanov (Germany, Bulgaria, 2020, 8 mins), mixing 2D animation and real sets composed of miniature objects or toys (a helicopter, etc.). On an ice floe covered with snow, a group of noisy tourists lands, who leave behind them, a little dog (Mishou) that white hares will try to help find his way home. Generous, eco-friendly (tourists have left a lot of rubbish in the snow…), the film is a little gem of humor and tenderness, around the always unifying theme of mutual aid.
Two other fabulous short films follow. “Hush…Little Bear” by Māra Liniņa (Latvia, 2022, 5 mins), accompanied by a lullaby in the original language, is a fluffy film, as if on the edge of a long sleep. Two little bear cubs are placed by their parents on a cloud , but instead of falling asleep, get off to play with a big ball of snow (a ball of wool, crocheted by a sheep at the other end, perched on 5 threads, which evoke a score…), while their parents collect food. Very soft in its colors, the film is shot in Stop motion, with wool and felt.”Luce and the Rock” by Britt Raes (Belgium, France, Netherlands, 2022, 13 mins) is undoubtedly the most graphically successful film of the whole, playing on round and cubic shapes, both in the proposed frames (sometimes up to ‘with 6 round windows on the screen…), in the design of the characters and the sets, and with the overlays of more or less warm colors, depending on whether you go from day to night. houses occupied by square-headed men and a larger house occupied by a mother and her daughter Luce, all damaged by a giant boulder that fell near them. Luce goes closer to the rock, helping her find her “home” Another story of self-help, full of sweetness, which is the pinnacle of this collection.
More classic are the last two films, “The Snowman” by Aleksey Pochivalo (Russia, 2021, 3 mins) and “A surprise visit!” by Marina Moshkova (Russia, 2020, 6 mins). The first is shot in stop motion and features a family of snowmen, who find in their fridge (where the carrots that serve as their noses are kept), a voracious rabbit. A film that plays down the drama, moving towards the notions of sharing and pride in difference. The second, in 2D, also deals with difference by bringing together two friends, a somewhat wild polar bear and boor, and a brown bear friend who visits him and who does not have the same habits as him: he drinks hot chocolate, he uses a blanket to sleep, he has fun sliding on the ice… But what? better than ending with a story of friendship?
