"The Bear" is a 26-minute animated short film that was made for the Christmas holidays back in 1998, so this one will soon have its 20th anniversary already. The team behind this are the ones who worked on "The Snowman" and "The Snowman and the Snowdog" and you can easily see it from the animation style. And as with these I just mentioned, there is also no (or hardly any) spoken dialogue in here, no voice acting, at least not in the version I saw. Apparently Judi Dench is the narrator for the American version, so if you are a great fan of her then check out that one. I can imagine her voice going pretty well with the atmosphere. Anyway, in terms of the story it is pretty decent as well without ever reaching greatness really and same goes for the music. I personally was not too fond of the way the human protagonist looked, but I liked everything else. This is entirely subjective of course. All in all, this short film at slightly under half an hour is certainly a good pick to check out when there is a lot of snow outside your house that gets you in the spirit. Apart from the very general plot idea, the film scores through realism and love to detail. I think it's a decent watch for the young ones and those still young at heart.

THE BEAR, an enchanting 30-minute animation about a young girl's relationship with a polar bear that escapes from the local zoo, is very much a spiritual follow-up to that timeless Raymond Briggs classic, THE SNOWMAN. The two productions look and feel very similar to each other and, while THE SNOWMAN has the edge, THE BEAR comes close to reaching the same level of quality.As usual, there's far more going on than meets the eye, something that makes these Briggs stories suitable for adult viewers as well as the kids. On the face of it, it's simply a humorous tale about an unlikely relationship, but underneath it's all about friendship, being comfortable in your own skin, the tribulations of finding one's place in society, mysticism and nature versus technology and progress.Needless to say it's also touching, thought-provoking and magical, with expert, hand-drawn animation and beautifully realised characters.

While at the zoo a young girl loses her favourite teddy bear into the polar bear enclosure. Later that night she is still upset and goes to sleep with no toys. However in the night the polar bear comes to her house to return the teddy and she lets him stay as a result. The morning comes and sees the girl keeping the bear a secret from her parents – not an easy feat in a three bedroom house. Later that night the pair go out into the snow to see the sights and play games.With The Snowman being on television every single Christmas from the moment it was made until the very end of time itself, I took the opportunity to see his animation from another Briggs book for the first time. The thing that struck me immediately (and stayed with me throughout) was how very similar it was to the Snowman in terms of theme, look, sound and overall delivery. In fact it is pretty much The Snowman but with a polar bear and no Aled Jones. On one hand this did make me wonder if Briggs only had one trick to play and he had already done it but I did try to be fair and watch it as a film just on its own merits.Doing so finds an enjoyable film that has all the strengths of the Snowman as it is cheerful with simple animation and good characters. The music is good and the final song is from a younger and less "laddy" Charlotte Church. So it may well be The Snowman with more polar bear but it is still a good short film for the family at Christmas time. It is not as famous as Snowman and I suspect a lot fewer people have seen it, which is probably a reason in itself for seeking it out as an alternative next time the festivities come around.

If you liked The Snowman or Father Christmas, then here is another Christmas film from Raymond Briggs. It doesn't have any dialogue, but the music just makes it just as good as The Snowman, it even appears a tiny bit from it. Basically a little girl really loves bear's, especially polar bears. When she loses her teddy bear in the polar bear sanctuary, she is one night visited by a polar bear that returns it. Together that night they go through the snow, follow a large ghost polar bear, have a bath and much more. The animation is just quality, the music is perfect and the end theme sung by young Charlotte Church makes this one of the essentials for Christmas television. Very good!