This reviewer has a lot of fondness for 'Timeless Tales from Hallmark'. They do so well with adapting well-loved stories with respect if not complete faithfulness, and do it with charm and heart as well as funny moments, pathos and no convolutions.
For me, the best of the series are "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "The Ugly Duckling", "Thumbelina" and "Rumpelstiltskin". Least favourites are "The Emperor's New Clothes", the original story not being a favourite admittedly and this, "Puss in Boots", "The Emperor's New Clothes' being the slightly better of the two due to better animation quality.
Its only major debit is some of the animation quality, of all the episodes of 'Timeless Tales from Hallmark', "Puss in Boots" is the worst animated. It's not all bad, here's plenty of vibrant colour and the backgrounds have a great amount of detail. It's just that it's not as smooth as it has been in the rest of the episodes and the character designs are the weirdest and least attractive of the series, with stiff human character designs and an odd-looking Puss.
To a lesser extent, to me the other episodes have better voice acting. It's not bad, but it's not as fun, heartfelt or as creepy as the voice acting shown in the other episodes, some is over-compensated here and Puss sounds a bit bored.
Music is whimsical, energetic and poignant, though like "The Elves and the Shoemaker" there is a lack of songs which is not a bad thing, the stories of both are examples of not being easy to place songs easily. Scripting is funny, without resorting to being juvenile or low-brow and poignant without being cloying or maudlin, and the story sticks closely structurally to the story and the climax excites enough.
Live-action bookend scenes are beautifully done, with a sincere host in Olivia Newton-John and endearing children narrating the story. Characters are decent enough, though would have made better impact with more appealing animation and superior voice acting.
Overall, my least favourite of the 'Timeless Tales from Hallmark' adaptations but has more than enough to recommend it. 8/10 Bethany Cox
For me, the best of the series are "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "The Ugly Duckling", "Thumbelina" and "Rumpelstiltskin". Least favourites are "The Emperor's New Clothes", the original story not being a favourite admittedly and this, "Puss in Boots", "The Emperor's New Clothes' being the slightly better of the two due to better animation quality.
Its only major debit is some of the animation quality, of all the episodes of 'Timeless Tales from Hallmark', "Puss in Boots" is the worst animated. It's not all bad, here's plenty of vibrant colour and the backgrounds have a great amount of detail. It's just that it's not as smooth as it has been in the rest of the episodes and the character designs are the weirdest and least attractive of the series, with stiff human character designs and an odd-looking Puss.
To a lesser extent, to me the other episodes have better voice acting. It's not bad, but it's not as fun, heartfelt or as creepy as the voice acting shown in the other episodes, some is over-compensated here and Puss sounds a bit bored.
Music is whimsical, energetic and poignant, though like "The Elves and the Shoemaker" there is a lack of songs which is not a bad thing, the stories of both are examples of not being easy to place songs easily. Scripting is funny, without resorting to being juvenile or low-brow and poignant without being cloying or maudlin, and the story sticks closely structurally to the story and the climax excites enough.
Live-action bookend scenes are beautifully done, with a sincere host in Olivia Newton-John and endearing children narrating the story. Characters are decent enough, though would have made better impact with more appealing animation and superior voice acting.
Overall, my least favourite of the 'Timeless Tales from Hallmark' adaptations but has more than enough to recommend it. 8/10 Bethany Cox