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The Moomin family and friends
Down in the valley… The Moomin family and friends. Photograph: Gutsy Animation/© Moomin Characters
Down in the valley… The Moomin family and friends. Photograph: Gutsy Animation/© Moomin Characters

Why are Rosamund Pike and Kate Winslet stuck in the CGI Moominvalley?

This article is more than 4 years old

The Moomins are back, moving in that way they do, with their big eyes and animal nudity – plus an all-star cast!

Always got slightly disconcerted by the Moomins. Can’t quite drill down as to why without the necessary therapy; their curious blob-like shapes? The idea of a family of hippopotami walking upright on two legs? Their near-pathological lack of a mouth? The way they always moved just two beats too slowly on the screen? That one who looked like a baby witch? All the ghosts? But they always made me nervous as a boy and, if we’re being honest, still do now. The original Moomins series more or less split the children who watched it into two adult camps: those who are still filled with a deep abyss of dread (me), or those who still buy Moomin-themed cups and Moomin-themed plates and Moomin plushies, even though they’re 40.

And so this week to Moominvalley (Friday 26 April, 5.30pm, Sky One), where the Moomins are back, moving in that way they do, with their big eyes and their animal nudity, ready to either terrify or delight a new generation of children and keep the novelty teacup industry ticking over well into 2049. The latest iteration has everything: a crowdfunded pilot episode; an Oscar-winning director (Steve Box); and an all-star cast, featuring Taron Egerton (too big for this), Rosamund Pike (too big for this) and Kate Winslet (it’s Kate Winslet!). Things are still wholesome and sprinkled with woodland magic – you always feel as though someone’s day can be unutterably altered by a mushroom – but now the ink-and-primary-colours of the original art style have been switched out for squishier, blander computer animation.

It is Easter, so I suppose this is what we want now: CGI remakes of beloved old children’s books, voiced by British actors Americans have heard of. It happened already with The Gruffalo (nice, colourful, smoothly made and very cute!) and Watership Down (horrible, but not quite horrible enough! Seemingly rendered on a chipped PS2!), featuring, variously, Helena Bonham Carter, James Corden, Robbie Coltrane, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, John Boyega and, because he’s always about, Ben Kingsley. We are, frankly, about three Christmas–Easter weekend cycles away from a gritty reboot of The Very Hungry Caterpillar featuring Tom Hardy; a completely method performance where Hardy yells “I’M HUNGRY!” in a Bane voice through huge mouthfuls of plums and sausages.

I suppose the all-star cast is, if nothing else, a paean to the enduring appeal of the Moomins. Spiritually, Moominvalley is still the same as the beloved comics and cartoons that spawned it: the first episode sees Egerton’s Moomintroll tormented by Bel Powley’s Little My, so he (spoilers!) sulks off to build a wooden house on the back of a giant turtle, because of course he does. And the creators have veered away from giving the Moomins, like, breaks to take selfies, or a top #100 rank on Fortnite, or a segment where Moomintroll teaches Moominpappa how to clumsily floss. Listen, it’s not going to change your life, but it’s nice enough to sit down and watch with your family after a roast. Sit back and let the threatless world of the Moomins soothe your battered soul. Try not to fixate on how eerie it is that they never really blink.

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