Moomins land at The Barbican for London Children's Festival

Moomins and the Comet Chase will be screened in 3D
10 April 2012

Tove Jansson's curvaceous and unconventional troll-clan get a new lease of life via a Finnish adaptation of Comet in Moominland.

Bjork – yes, the Bjork! - provides the title track for Moomins and the Comet Chase (which opens the London Children's Festival at The Barbican Centre at the end of this month). Her song has a lilting, Japanese-quality and suitably eerie pockets. "Grey leaves are too much for any mother to handle" she warbles, "A father must pull his black hat down over the eyes". Ever so slightly bonkers, then, but a must-hear.

The movie itself - like Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox – is aimed at eccentrics, young and old, and is visually delicious. The old-fashioned, stop motion animation is very much in keeping with cult Polish-Austrian TV series, "The Moomins" and the 3-D work blends in surprisingly well. Some of the characters are a tad squeaky and American-sounding, but gravelly Stellan Skarsgard and Max von Sydow (as the narrator) are defiantly un-American and lots of fun.

Basically, if you flush with happiness at the thought of seeing Moomintroll, Snufkin, Sniff, Snork Maiden and two cross-dressing Hemulens skitter across an increasingly raspberry-coloured landscape, get booking now.

Moomins and the Comet Chase 3D opens the London Children's Festival at The Barbican Centre on 30 October. Moomintroll himself will be at the Barbican to greet 'n' hug visitors. There will be an additional screening on 1 November.

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