Horrid Henry has always had his share of Christmas adventures in the books and TV series. Horrid Henry's Christmas was a lot of fun, and so was the entire Horrid Henry's Christmas Cracker book. This entry from Series 3 of the TV series however... leaves a lot to be desired. It's boring, frustrating, slow and substitutes fun for morals.
We see the exact same subplot used three times in this episode. It consists of Henry wanting a Birthday/Christmas present early, his Mum/Dad saying no, Peter saying he should save up, Henry calling Peter names, and Mum/Dad getting angry and saying Henry shouldn't deserve any presents, and Henry yelling NOOOOO!!!.
Then, when we get to the fourth section, Henry helps his mother, makes tea, and gets a present for Christmas Day - only to find out it's for the following year. Cue NOOOOO!!!.
Seriously, Mum and Dad show just how nasty they are to Henry in this episode. They refuse to give him any presents all because he called Peter names. Each and every child could get whatever they want and it shows that Henry feels like he's being controlled by everyone all because his parents don't like it when Henry isn't listening to them. I understand Henry is horrid, but it doesn't excuse this even worse behaviour.
Worst of all, as I stated before, there's almost no humour whatsoever, which is something you're meant to expect to see in a Horrid Henry ANYTHING. The franchise heavily relies on this, and yet this episode has nothing funny at all - all you get is Henry being disgraced by his harsh parents.
The only good thing is the Christmas setting and the second half (until the Christmas Day scene), but that's it.
Don't bother with this episode.
