Moominvalley

I'm an avid fan of moomins, by which I mean I have been raised on it, from its bizarre and oddly sardonic humour to it's cute charming characters. I even have a moomin tattoo. I know it pretty well and I think that this series captures the mood of the books better than any others. Its sweet and wholesome, anarchistic and at times even strangely melancholy. It has something very rarely found in a show aimed a children and that is emotional honesty.

My nieces (3 and 5) love this show. Like me they have been raised with the characters. The more mature themes that sometimes show up allow a dialogue to open between me and them about things that would be hard to broach under normal circumstances, especially when it comes to the 'Invisible child' episode. My 60 year old mother also adores it, enjoying the dynamic between Mama and Papa Moomin.

The voice cast is excellent. The only one I'm not sure fits is Snorkmaiden. Jennifer Saunders as Mymble is excellent, as does Taron Egerton as Moomin. I was sceptical about the CGI visuals when the show was announced but I loved them after the trailer and screenshots were released. It has a cosy sort of aesthetic to it. The soundtrack is pretty good although sometimes I feel that the fit wasn't quite right for the mood of the show.

The writing and visual gags are pretty good overall. It's simple and easy for small children to follow but still entertaining and keeps a decent pace. The adventure sequences are fun to watch.

Yes the originals are flawless and I know other reviewers are questioning the point of this remake, but it's a really sweet and cute adaption in my opinion (and I'm old enough to remember the original stories!) with a good voice cast that will bring these enjoyable tales to a new audience. The Moomins are classics and surely new eyes and ears to their antics can't be a bad thing.

So disappointed! Come on, make a version of the original books and how the characters actually are!! And the babyfied details.. the original stories are not actually written for children, It's written for everyone, the characters are as complex and unexplainable as people are.

But in this version i get the sense that they have just read the new simplified childrens version (which we don't even read our kids, they're not actually written by Tove Jansson herself).

Animation from the 70'ies version is still better than this.

It's like the made a copy from a copy from a copy.. big thumbs down unfortunately.. but my six year old likes it so I'll give it a three instead of a two.

Having seen the first half of the first season, I am really happy about this. I feel the totality of what I've seen is good - animation, storytelling, visuals, dialogue. It respects the work of Tove Jansson and hits the nostalgic buttons by not being too different from the japanese series, but still it is not a copy but its own version of the stories. I feel this is great for kids, and most of the episodes are great to watch as an adult too. This will never be the same as the original series, but I think expecting that wouldn't be reasonable.

If I'm ever feeling down or sad or had a bad day, this programme always makes me happy and wholesome. Beautiful stories and amazing take on the original! Love it so much!