The Smeds and the Smoos

Julia Donaldson's The Smeds and the Smoos is really a reworking of the Romeo and Juliet story for kids. It also reminded me of Dr Seuss's The Sneetches story about discrimination.

In a far off planet the Smeds and Smoos live separate lives due to their differences.

The Smeds are red and the Smoos are blue but that are is not the only distinction between the two.

Janet and Bill are the star crossed lovers who decide to mix together and play together. When the young Smed and Smoo fall in love. Their families strongly disapprove of the union.

So they decide to hop into their spaceship and zoom off into space. Now the respective families give chase and hopefully gather that they have more in common.

The CGI animation is good but not of the standard of animated feature films. The message will be more appreciated by the children.

Got it on our recordings and the kids (ages 3& 2) both love to watch it over and over....easy watching and keeps them quiet! They love all the different types of planets and different types of aliens the smeds and smoos see on there adventure. I think they also like the relation ships between Janet and Bill :)

I kind of like it too, don't see the point of some of the high paid actors playing the voices as there are not many words, could of saved some tv licence payers money, I could of smashed the voice of a uncle smed or a auntie smoo or the sound of one of the funky aliens along the way !!!

Better than last years showing of Superworm by quite a distance.

It's nice that the creators this time weren't totally beholden to only using the text from the book. It made the cartoon story flow well. Some additions in there such as the rocket bursting out the slime was good fun.

Sally Hawkins is a great actor. The narration on Donaldsons books in this format has though become all too serious. The style is a breathless high diction whisper. It's ok for the narration to reflect that it's a kids book and not an ultra serious oscar winning documentary. They're Smeds and Smoos!

Overall enjoyed it, my kids did too. So I'm sure I'll be watching it again 😃

We've waited years for The Smeds and the Smoos to be brought to the screen, the book being a firm favourite of my youngest and my eldest before that. It did not disappoint. The characters have been brought to life with more complexity than the book could provide, partly thanks to the great voice actors, and the story is more involved with nuances and humour added to the evolving relationship of the Smeds and the Smoos throughout the screenplay. The alien scenery is beautiful, the skies in particular are gorgeous, almost mesmerising, and the detail of the various landscapes is superb. The only thing on that front is that the children were disappointed not to see a 'baby Gruffalo' on Grimbletosh! The score is fantastic, and the song that featured throughout and at the end is a delight. The narration isn't quite what I had expected, but its gentle delivery doesn't get in the way of the story which I guess was the aim. This will be a festive favourite in our house for years to come.

This is a story not unlike Romeo and Juliet - two families (or in this case species) despising each other, only to be brought together by two star-crossed lovers... But unlike Shakespeare's material, The Smeds and the Smoos is a cheerful, heartwarming story that children and adults alike will undoubtedly love.

Julia Donaldson's clever words have once again been brought to life with this humorous animation, delivering what the book (whilst lovely) cannot, with subtle quirks and nuances that might be lost on the younger viewer, but give a more grown up edge for the older watcher to enjoy.

Overall a thoroughly enjoyable cartoon, have already watched it 5 times since its release two days ago (at my 3 year old's request!) and it's been an absolute pleasure every time.