| Granpa | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Dianne Jackson |
| Produced by | John Coates |
| Written by | John Burningham (book) |
| Starring | Peter Ustinov (as Granpa) Emily Osborne (as Emily) |
| Music by | Howard Blake Sarah Brightman Wroughton Middle School Choir |
| Distributed by | Channel 4 (broadcast) Universal Studios (VHS) |
| Release date(s) | 31 December 1989 |
| Running time | 26 min. |
| Language | English |
Granpa is a 1989 English family-oriented animated film, based on a 1984 children's illustrated story book by John Burningham. The film initially appeared on Channel 4 Television and was later released on VHS by Universal Studios.[1]
Directed by Dianne Jackson, who had previously adapted Raymond Briggs's The Snowman into an animated film, it is hand-illustrated with coloured pencil in imitation of the style of the original Burningham book. In common with The Snowman, the music is by Howard Blake, who also wrote the script for the film, which is referred to as an "animated children's opera".[2] The voices of Granpa and Emily are by Peter Ustinov and Emily Osborne respectively.
An expensive film to produce, it won the Prix Jeunesse International award for excellence in children's television programming in 1990.[3]
Contents |
The film celebrates the relationship between a small girl, Emily (voiced by Emily Osborne), and her kindly but ailing grandfather (voiced by Peter Ustinov). Emily's playful innocence is contrasted with Granpa's increasing frailty. Aware that his days are numbered, he shares his memories of adventures and days gone by.
These memories are vividly brought to life by her grandfather's tales, beginning with a description of Granpa's childhood and youth in the early part of the 20th Century. Other adventures include a chivalrous tale of Saint George and the Dragon imagined on a bedcover, a fishing trip which ends with a journey down the Thames on a blue whale, a trip to the seaside which culminates in a re-enactment of the Battle of Britain and a Noah's Ark-influenced story, where Granpa's house is submerged and the pair have to accommodate exotic animals.
The final jungle section is left intentionally incomplete. As the seasons pass, Granpa grows frailer, and eventually Emily is left alone with an empty chair and the old man's loyal dog.[4]
In 1984, following the success of the animated Christmas film The Snowman, Channel 4 commissioned another animation from TVC studios; producer John Coates approached Dianne Jackson and composer Howard Blake, suggesting Burningham's picture book Granpa. Blake was initially reluctant due to the book's upsetting ending, but was convinced after witnessing his own daughter's reaction to her grandfather's death that year.[2]
The film was entirely financed by Channel 4 and cost over one million pounds to make according to Coates.[5] It was first broadcast on the channel on New Year's Eve 1989 at 6.30pm.[6]
The musical score was written and composed by Howard Blake and is almost in the form of a miniature opera, with many of the tales within the animation sung by the lead characters, along with children from the Wroughton Middle School choir (winners of BBC Choir of the Year) and a forty-piece orchestra (the Sinfonia of London).[2]
The end title song "Make Believe" is performed by Sarah Brightman and has the theme of "Auld Lang Syne" as a counter-melody.[2] The song was released as a single at the time.[7]
The film won the Prix Jeunesse International award for excellence in children's television programming in 1990.[3] The film review site Rotten Tomatoes has called the film "a sensitive and life-affirming animated adaptation".[8]
Fiona Collins noted in Turning the Page: Children's Literature in Performance and the Media that while Burningham's book is open ended, with Emily ultimately left alone to contemplate her grandfather's passing, the film offers a less "stark" interpretation; his death is explored through her implied remembrance of him in the final scene. Collins suggests that this was probably because the original offered an unremittingly bleak ending that would be difficult for its intended child audience.[9]
The film has rarely been repeated, and has never been released on DVD[10], perhaps due to its subject matter. The "Toonhound" review suggest that the film takes the tone of the ending of The Snowman even further, "exploring an aspect of life rarely approached in animated form."[11] Paul Madden, writing Dianne Jackson's obituary in 1993 suggests that the film "was of less immediate popular appeal than The Snowman [but] was perhaps more satisfying to her creatively, demanding a more subtle approach."[12]