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Saturday, October 12, 2013

'Lost and Found:' Adorable Mega-Award Winning Animated British Film About a Boy and His Penguin

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The DVD, which is being released on October 15, 2013, of the beyond-delightful animated short film "Lost and Found" further solidifies the theory that the Brits outshine Americans in all things television and film. British animation production house Studio AKA winning 61 international awards, including the 2009 BAFTA (a.k.a. British Oscar) for Best Children's Animation for the wonderful storybook style of "Lost and Found" further speaks to its awesomeness.

The perfect combination of elements partially described above make "Lost and Found" one of the few films about which it truly can be said that everyone from 2 to 102 will love.

Aside from the perfect animation with its ideal score and an incredibly cute and amusing story based on the children's book of the same name by this generation's Mother Goose Oliver Jeffers, "Lost and Found" has really good narration by English actor Jim Broadbent. Broadbent's numerous live-action credits include a role that supports a friend's theory that every British actor appears in at least one "Harry Potter" film.

Directly lifting the following description of "Lost and Found" from the website of North American distributor Entertainment One is not entirely attributable to laziness; the synopsis provided below simply captures the film very well.

"Once there was a boy, and one day he found a penguin at his door. The boy decides to take the penguin home himself, and they set out in his rowing boat on a journey to the South Pole. When they arrived, the boy discovered that maybe home wasn't what the penguin was looking for after all!"

Although Jeffers deserves due credit for writing a good read, he openly acknowledges that his tale is a "ripped from the headlines" story. In this case, a boy in Belfast Ireland took a penguin from a zoo and moved said waterfowl to his bathtub before this scheme was discovered. It is amusing that this incident led to an Opus. (Pun intended, and Google it millenials.)

Admitting to laughing out loud at the penguin's antics or to saying "aaawww" during a cute scene involving a flock of rubber duckies is not embarrassing; admitting to gasps and an "oh no" during some perilous scenes during our hero's sea voyage is a little embarrassing but divulged in the interest of expressing the captivating nature of the film.

This confession is from someone who the death scene in "Terms of Endearment" does not affect, and who typically responds with "gimme  a break" during "very special" television episodes. 

The following short clip, courtesy of YouTube, demonstrates why "Lost and Found" elicits such a strong response.

The facts that "Lost and Found" is only 24 minutes and can still be followed well with the DVD player on mute help make the inevitable marathon viewings by children bearable by their adult caregivers. Additionally, this intense enjoyment makes shelling out the Hamilton for the DVD well worth it.

The equally long special feature on the making of the film provides great insights into the technical and more creative aspects of this future classic that will give Wallace and Gromit strong competition for the hearts of children of all ages across the globe.

Anyone with questions or comments regarding "Lost and Found" is STRONGLY encouraged to email me. You can also find me on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.



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