Moomins on the Riviera [Muumit Rivieralla] *** (2014, voices of Russell Tovey, Nathaniel Parker, Tracy Ann Oberman) – Movie Review

Like certain brands of cheese or ham, Moomins on the Riviera, based on Tove Jansson’s comic strip is sweet and mild. Moomins fans will appreciate the loving care that’s gone into it and that the film is faithful to Jansson’s original drawings and story, with the only addition of a few characters and plotlines. Others may find the whimsical humour mysterious.

Directors Xavier Picard and Hanna Hemilä’s 2014 Finnish-French traditional animated film looks good with its attractive backgrounds and colour design. And of course the Moomins are appealing. But the story and dialogue lacks spark and vitality, as well as laughs, making for a long-seeming 80 minutes.

The British English-language version of the film stars the voices of Russell Tovey as Moomin, Nathaniel Parker as Moominpappa, Tracy Ann Oberman as Moominmamma, Stephanie Winiecki as Snorkmaiden and Ruth Gibson as Little My, but the voices are not very distinctive or strong.

It is the third animated feature based on the comic strip, in which the Moomins, Snorkmaiden and Little My sail for the Riviera, where Snorkmaiden is dazzled by the attentions of the playboy Clark Tresco and Moominpappa befriends an aristocrat Marquis Mongaga. Moomin and Moominmamma decide to move to the beach to escape the glamour.

Nice though it is, it does show yet again the difficulties and strain of turning a comic strip into a movie. But adding the side story in Moominvalley at the start  when the Moomins get their idea for the sea voyage is a good idea to introduce the home of the Moomins for an international audience unfamiliar with the Moomins .

The film has hand-drawn animation with a reduced colour scale for the backgrounds to maintain continuity with the original black-and-white comic strips. Pictak Cie has been on developing the visuals of the film, and the Chinese Sandman Animation Studio has done 120,000 drawings for the hand-made animation.

It was released on 10 October 2014 in Finland to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Tove Jansson’s birth, premiered in the UK on 11 October 2014 at BFI London Film Festival and released in cinemas on 22 May 2015.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com