The Snowman And Father Christmas

Watching The Snowman And Father Christmas Without Losing Your Mind

The Snowman And Father Christmas is the 1986 follow-up to the original 1982 film, directed by Crispin Hall and based on another book by Raymond Briggs. It follows an older snowman and his friend as they travel through different countries with Father Christmas. Unlike the first film, which is mostly wordless, this one actually has dialogue. That fact alone divided people when it came out, and you'll see why pretty quickly. I spent about two hours digging through every streaming option I could find across the UK and US, because the distribution rights on this thing are a mess. Here's what I learned.

Where to Find The Snowman And Father Christmas

The most straightforward way is through Amazon Prime Video. It's available to rent or buy there in both standard and HD. The rental runs about £3.49 in the UK or $3.99 in the US. You can also grab it on Apple TV, Google Play, and YouTube Movies the same way. If you want to own a physical copy, the DVD is still in print through Criterion Collection in the US. It comes with a decent booklet and some extras. The Blu-ray version is harder to find and tends to go for forty to sixty quid on eBay, which is absurd for something that was originally animated using coloured pencils on paper. The DVD transfer is actually fine. Don't bother hunting down the Blu-ray unless you're a completist. In the UK, the film sometimes appears on Channel 4 around the holidays. Not every year, but it rotates. I'd recommend setting a reminder on your phone if that's your route, because you will miss it otherwise.

The Production Details You Need to Know

The original The Snowman was groundbreaking because Raymond Briggs drew every single frame himself. Over 17,000 drawings. Each one photographed, then slightly adjusted for the next frame. No CGI. No digital tools at all. Just pencil on paper and a lot of patience. The sequel kept the same hand-drawn process but added character voices. David Blakeley narrated and voiced Father Christmas. Sally Burgess did the singing for the Snowman. The animation team at Channel Four Films handled the actual production. The runtime is about twenty-five minutes, roughly the same as the original. Here's something people miss: the sequel actually looks slightly worse than the original when you look closely at the animation. The original moved with this loose, dreamy quality because Briggs drew it entirely by himself. The sequel had a larger team, which introduced inconsistency. Characters shift size between shots. Backgrounds get reused. It's not terrible, but it's noticeable if you're watching it frame by frame, which some of us do.

A Practical Problem I Hit and How I Solved It

I tried to watch this on my home media server for a recording. I'd set up a PVR to catch the Channel 4 airing so I could archive it properly. The problem was the audio sync drifted about half a second over the course of the film. Pretty standard MPEG-TS issue with some broadcast encodes, but it was bad enough that dialogue felt completely off. I couldn't watch it like that. The workaround was to extract the video track and audio track separately from the recording, re-sync them in ffmpeg using the adjust offset flag, and remux. Something along these lines: ffmpeg -i input.ts -c copy -async 1 output.mp4

That fixed it cleanly. If you're archiving broadcast copies yourself, run the async option and check the sync at the ten-minute mark before you commit to a full remux. Saves you the headache of realizing halfway through that the lip flaps are trailing the words by a noticeable gap.

What This Film Actually Says

The story follows the Snowman as he and Father Christmas travel around Europe and beyond. They visit places like Greece and Iceland. There's a segment where they fly over the Swiss Alps. The tone is calmer than the original and deals more explicitly with themes of aging and mortality, which is unusual for something aimed at children. Raymond Briggs wrote it after his own father died, and you can feel that in the second half. The original The Snowman ends with the snowman melting. The sequel treats that differently because this snowman is older and has been rebuilt. The narrative implication is that he's not the same one from the first film. Some viewers find that confusing. It's not explained outright, and the film doesn't really owe you an explanation.

Pitfalls and Limitations

The main issue with the sequel is that it lacks the universal appeal of the original. The dialogue-heavy approach means it doesn't translate as well to non-English speaking households. The original needed no translation at all. This one requires understanding British English delivery, which adds a barrier for international audiences. The streaming availability is another limitation. Unlike the original, which occasionally surfaces on Netflix or BBC iPlayer in certain regions, the sequel has much more restricted availability. It jumps between platforms depending on territory. If you're outside the UK or US, your options shrink considerably. You may end up relying on rental platforms exclusively. Another thing to note: the Criterion DVD, while the best available physical release, is region-coded. If you're in Europe, you'll need a region-free player or a multi-region disc. The Blu-ray is region-free, but again, the price and availability make it a questionable purchase for most people.

My Take on Whether It Holds Up

It holds up reasonably well. The animation still looks good after forty years. The music by Howard Blake carries it just as strongly as in the original. The voice performances are fine, though not remarkable. But it's not essential viewing if you already love the original. It's a companion piece, not a replacement. Watch it if you want to see what Briggs and Blake were capable of next. Don't watch it expecting the same emotional impact. The first film works on a visceral level because of its silence and simplicity. This one asks more of you intellectually, and that's a different kind of experience. I'd recommend watching both back to back if you're doing a proper sit-down with it. Gives you the full picture of what Briggs was trying to say across both stories, even if the second one is less polished and more muddled in its messaging.