Christmas DVDs

Last year Rob got me Valkyrie on DVD for Christmas. Now, I'm not knocking the film. When we finally got round to watching it some time in November, it was a very good film. It's just not my kind of film. It's also not the kind of film I would watch over and over again. We don't get the chance to go to the cinema at the moment but really, it should be a Blockbusters rental, not a own forever type purchase. Or not for me anyway. It is exactly the kind of film Rob loves and in this small matter he had unfortunately fallen into the man trap that is present at every Christmas and birthday. 'I have no idea what to get the little woman, oh this looks good!'. Men (and women for that matter) if it looks good to you, it's probably not ideal for your partner. What you should be thinking is 'oh, she'd like this'.

This year he obviously made the effort - I'm not sure if it was the fact that it took me 11 months to watch last years DVD or if he was just more attuned this year but I got a fantastic haul of DVDs, all of which I would watch many times. Most of which, I have already seen but am over joyed to now own.

Muppet Christmas Carol
This film should be on every ones list of all time classics. You have the mix of timeless Charles Dickens story telling,  acting greatness of Michael Caine and the sheer brilliance of the Muppets. This is by far the best Muppet movie every made. I'd actually dropped hints about wanting this DVD. We have the Muppets Christmas Movie but it is nothing in comparison to the Christmas Carol. It doesn't stick entirely faithfully to the text of the original but that may be too scary for a Muppet offering. The only criticism we have found is from little i (aged 2) who thought that the ghost of Christmas present looked like a big ginger Santa and spent a good few minutes being more than a little confused.  She got her head round it in the end though. So in conclusion, I love the Muppet Christmas Carol.

Wallace and Gromit TV collection
From here onwards Rob chose the DVD's himself. I love Wallace and Gromit. I love most British films but Wallace and Gromit sum up why I love the British movie scene. They are a collection of basically simple stories with brilliant scripting. The humour is subtle and down to earth. They are short enough for you to watch and enjoy without having to invest serious time to. Again, we had a moment of confusion for little i who watched A Close shave before A Grand Day Out. If you try this, you will notice just how much the sculpting of Wallace has changed over the years. When A Grand Day Out started she asked 'what's happened to Wallaces face?' We explained that Wallace was very young in A Grand Day Out but had grown older by A Close Shave. She seemed happy with this explanation. As you can tell, I have already watched this DVD too.

The Chronicals of Narnia parts 1 and 2
As I said, we don't get the chance to go to the cinema very often these days and so I had not see these films. I loved the TV series and so am very pleased to see that The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is very close to that adaptation. There are some brilliant performances, namely Susan and Mr Beaver - both of which had me laughing out loud at some of their lines. We have only watched the first one so far as they are probably too dark for little i at present. While explaining why the ghost of Christmas present isn't a big ginger Santa is one thing, explaining why hundreds of mythical creatures are being murdered is beyond my skills at present. Still, these are Christmas DVD's for me, not little i, and I'm very pleased with this box set.

Harry Potter volumes 1-6
We have been having a debate for a long time now about whether we should buy the 1-6 box set or wait until 7a and 7b come out on DVD. Rob won the debate by getting me this box set for Chrimbo. Again, not one we're going to watch with little i because I would like her to read the books before watching the films like we did. I loved the books, as did Rob, and loved most of the movies so again, this has been a good choice. I say most because we found number 6 a tad disappointing in comparison to the book. As a film in it's own right I think it's good but as an adaptation of the book, it is a poor relative. Mainly because the title of this volume is 'The Half Blood Prince' and I don't feel the film made nearly enough of that connection. I won't say why, just in case you haven't seen the film but are intending to. I don't want to spoil it for you.

But what's more important than the critical analysis of these titles is the fact that every one of them is exactly my sort of thing. He thought about me and that's what makes these great gifts. I love my Christmas DVDs and would like to thank Rob very very much. xx