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Monday, February 5, 2018

Revolting Rhymes

This is a BBC production which is nominated in the Best Short Animated film category and it is really pretty terrific.  It is based on six retelling of traditional fairy tales that Roald Dahl wrote that I somehow missed, despite having four children, an affection for the story teller, and reading quite a lot to the kids.
Revolting Rhymes is obviously aimed at those who know the original tales and likely wouldn't have as much impact upon children who haven't been introduced to Snow White or The Three Little Pigs, otherwise why put them together?
The start is absolutely perfect, telling the leading events to Snow White's attempted murder by the Queen's Huntsman, and in a wonderful Roald Dahl restatement of a passage included in the Brothers' Grimm original but often forgotten by more sanitized versions, includes the Queen eating the heart which she believes to be Snow White’s with the line:
"and now here's the disgusting part, the queen sat down and ate the heart. I only hope she cooked it well, boiled heart can be as tough as hell".
Instead of meeting the traditional dwarves, Snow White runs into 7 ex-racing jockeys who lose all their money betting on horses, which she goes about finding a solution for.  There are a number of twists and turns, Snow White and Red Riding Hood becoming and remaining fast friends, and a cliff hanger of an ending. 

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