The Snowman

1982

26m

Holiday

Drama

Animation

List

80%

Tomatometer

5 Reviews

91%

Audience Score

1,000+ Ratings

After an English boy makes a snowman on Christmas Eve, it comes to life to take him on an adventure to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus.

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Steve Daly

Entertainment Weekly

The Snowman gently relates, via expert pantomime and orchestral score, a young lad's overnight adventure with his brought-to-life pal.

Rated: A

Oct 8, 2009

Full Review

Ali Barclay

BBC.com

Rated: 4/5

Jun 13, 2001

Full Review

Jon Lyus

HeyUGuys

The Snowman is an absolute joy; it is as mesmerising, as surprising and as enchanting as it was all those years ago.

Nov 16, 2017

Full Review

Betsy Bozdech

Common Sense Media

Charming, wordless, book-based holiday fable for all ages.

Rated: 4/5

Nov 29, 2012

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 2/5

Aug 11, 2005

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Jeff M

With animation that looks like a storybook came to life and a marvelous musical score, this is a hauntingly beautiful half hour - think FROSTY THE SNOWMAN for the high-brow crowd. Except for an opening narration and one song, this is totally silent, which I personally loved. The music gels perfectly with the images on screen, and I got the "feels" on more than one occasion. A beautiful sequence in which the snowman and the young boy fly through the air to the North Pole reminded me of the wonderment I felt the first time I saw Superman and Lois Lane take their airborne voyage in the 1978 movie. I smiled throughout, I laughed a couple times, and I was thoroughly enchanted. I'm not sure how well this will play with the younger crowd considering there is no dialogue. But the images are gorgeous and I was transfixed throughout. It's a welcome change of pace from the average holiday special and feels completely original.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/11/24

Full Review

redphonedeb

Absolutely love this film and have since it came out when I was 18. It's still magical to watch even after all these years. It captures a magic that you don't find very often anymore. Sadly they didn't achieve the same feelings with The Snowman and the Snowdog.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/21/23

Full Review

Sean D

This is not a review of the quality of this short Christmas classic. But this movie gave me a strange fear of snowmen. I only saw it once as a kid, and avoided it ever since it also made me avoid , to me what looks like the stuff of nightmares Michael Keatons Jack Frost. I vividly remember going to the video shop as a kid on the weekend and seeing the front cover with his sinister snowman face, the darkest dark of black dead eyes. I just remember this coming ov tv one Christmas, and when the snowman introduced itself and began flying off with the boy , feeling really scared for the boy and wondering where this snowman was taking him. Then, this haunting song came on , not happy and cheery atall, but actually quite dark. I think it went " we're walking in thee air ". And then when they eventually landed. Hundreds of these snowmen just came crawling out of wherever they were hiding . And started surrounding the boy. I'm not sure what happened after that.... but I worry he may of been murdered ⛇

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

05/18/23

Full Review

hollywoops

Wonderful and pleasantly touching.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/19/22

Full Review

Hannah T

Great festive film especially with young children!!!

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

11/29/22

Full Review

Audience Member

Belated Christmas reviews, woo! And it's based on a graphic novel that didn't even take place during Christmas. The Snowman is a timeless, enchanting special with beautiful animation, a great song and tons of sweet dreams fuel without being sickeningly diabetic...as anyone who sees the ending will find out the hard way. All without any dialogue. A true classic worthy of Rankin-Bass themselves.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

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Jimmy T. Murakami

Director

Dianne Jackson

Director

Raymond Briggs

Older James

David Bowie

Older James

Raymond Briggs

Screenwriter

John Coates

Producer

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Synopsis

After an English boy makes a snowman on Christmas Eve, it comes to life to take him on an adventure to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus.

Director: Jimmy T. Murakami, Dianne Jackson
Producer: Iain Harvey
Screenwriter: Raymond Briggs
Production Co: Channel 4 Television Corporation
Genre: Holiday, Drama, Animation
Original Language: English (United Kingdom)
Release Date (Streaming): May 17, 2017
Runtime: 26m

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