I love me some claymation, or any stop motion. It is a shame that so many films of the medium have such bland plots. This has a slightly better plot than most, even if it is a sort of classic story of coming of age by disobeying and getting into wicked trouble from which one has to be saved by one’s parent who then realizes it was foolish to treat them any differently because the apple in fact falls none to far from the tree. What a genre name.

I loved the set design in this one. The factory settings are a bit bland but a source of constant fun, whereas the natural settings are gorgeous and lush. Really beautifully constructed. There are frequent and fun madcap inventions whipped out by either side of the conflict, leading to great physical comedy. Honestly a really good family film… Perhaps except for the fact that it would seemingly advocate vegetarianism without ever explicitly saying so. Or maybe that’s the trick: maybe stories like this aren’t meant to tell anyone how to live their life, but merely what one should eventually expect from those who were treated as we treat them. Food for thought. Perhaps too much thought for this film.