Kamis, 08 Desember 2016

Sainsbury's Christmas Advert 2016: The Greatest Gift

I know I promised I'd review The Gruffalo's Child after reviewing the first special yesterday, but after finally watching this, I wanted to review this as quickly as I could. Supermarket and shop Christmas adverts have become a staple in Britain during the holidays. From John Lewis to Aldi, from Asda to H&M (directed by Wes Andersen this year), they all do their best to be memorable with ear worming tunes and heartwarming fluff stories to get people to buy their products! And I must say that this year has been a field year, with the heartwarming #LoveMrsClaus from Marks and Spencer, the surprisingly funny #BusterTheBoxer ad from John Lewis and today's ad, Sainsbury's. Given that they've upped the ante since their 2014 ad depicting the 1914 Christmas Truce, they've clearly got a bit more pressure on their hands for this review as they've become the most viewed Christmas ad this year along with being awarded the Best Christmas ad by the British public. So will this stop motion ad live up to the standards the public has given it, or is it just an overrated ad full of saccharine nonsense? Let's take a look! PS, try reading this with the video playing in the background. Trust me.


Story: It's pretty simple when getting down to it. An overworked dad wants to spend more time with his family in the holidays and comes up with a creative way to resolve this. Right from the start, this goes out of its way to show that Dave adores his family and would give anything to spend more time with them. This is where the heartwarming fluff comes in and it does leave you with a big smile on your face when he comes up with an idea based on his work line of making toys. On top of that, it's surprisingly relateable. Anyone young and old can relate to the stresses that come with trying to do Christmas shopping, work and spending time with family all at once. There are so many little bits scattered around like delayed trains making you late for work and people taking forever in REALLY long queues which immediately made me go 'yeah, that's definitely me'. It's really heartwarming to see the diversity of families shown like an LGBT couple (I think...) & the main family being interracial. It just feels so nice to see this ad reflect on the progress society has made over the last few years. While I'll admit that it didn't really tug at my heartstrings like the last few Christmas ads, it still left me smiling throughout with it's relateable humour and heartwarming scenes.



Animation: Immediately what grabbed my attention in this was the gorgeous stop motion animation. Reminiscent of Laika's stop motion movies, it uses cutting edge 3D printing for the very quirky and caricatured character designs. Oddly enough, they feel like people you'd know both in design and concept. Even the character animation can get creative with all the toys that Dave creates along with the physics of getting on trains, the over the top running cycles to emphasise Dave's stress and the very clever and quirky contraptions in the toy factory, leading to a lot of funny moments. However, it does know when to limit itself when it comes to the heartwarming and slower moments. The backgrounds all look absolutely gorgeous with the architecture of the buildings both indoors and outdoors looking like somewhere in a suburbia London. The addition of the small things like Christmas lights, trees and decorations, they also help with that Christmas feeling without the need to add in obligatory snow besides a couple of snowflakes. But easily the best thing about this ad is the attention to detail. From the knick knacks in Dave's medicine cabinet at the start, the winter hats, jumpers, & puffer jackets and the various Christmas food, it's all awe-inspiring to see all of the amazing effort of the animators brought to life.


Characters: There isn't much to say about the characters, but I'll go over them quickly. Dave is the main character who works too much but wants to spend more time with his family at Christmas. Immediately this makes him a relateable character and he's never depicted as a bad guy for working too much cos the ad makes it clear that he loves his family. On top of that, his optimism is pretty sweet as it leads up to his idea of using toys to replace him at work while he's with his family. His wife, Karah (I think that's her name. I'm basing it on the names on Dave's list for presents for his family), is the loving mother and wife, his kids, Lawrence and Anya are cute & quirky and grandma Pearl is pretty funny with her personality while playing the XBox. Oh yeah, and Banger the dog is hilarious with his reactions to Dave's ideas. Dave's co-workers are also pretty funny in their brief scenes and the other families are really sweet cos of their diversity & love for each other. Although it's only Dave who has his own little arc and development, the characters all still have likeable and relatable personalities which leave them being memorable.


Song: Written by Flight of the Concords member Bret Mackenzie, this is undeniably a massive earworm of a song. With an almost theatrical feeling thanks to the orchestral arrangement, upbeat tune and witty lyrics, they all help in making it a memorable tune for Christmas. The fact that it tells the story throughout also doesn't make it feel obnoxious or obtrusive to the plot cos it doesn't state the painfully obvious. And, yes, this is in fact sung by James Corden. I know he's sung in other stuff like Into the Woods, but this really showed his surprisingly amazing singing chops. On top of that, his down to earth voice makes this special more heartwarming to listen to. This is just such a wonderful song to listen to, and if you haven't played the song yet while reading this, then I suggest you do so now!


While I don't think it's as good as their other Christmas ads, The Greatest Gift is still highly enjoyable with it's sweet and funny story, amazing stop motion animation, loveable characters and a highly memorable Christmas song. If you're looking for a more upbeat and happy Christmas ad this year, then I definitely suggest you go and watch this. As for my thoughts on whether it should be Christmas number...well, we'll just have to wait and see. As long as it's not a crappy sappy X Factor winner's single or Justin Bieber, that'll be good enough for me. And all I hope is that Sainsbury's themselves follow their own message and let their retail workers spend time with their families instead of being stuck 24/7 on Boxing Day! Just saying! Just because I love this ad it doesn't mean I'm letting them scots-free on that tiny detail!
Story:😊
Animation:😄
Characters:😊
Song: 😄
Overall: 😊

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