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Cape Town - With Revolting Rhymes now first and only on Showmax in Africa, here are seven reasons to get the family together to stream this hit animation.
1) This one’s for adults too
“The small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers. She whips a pistol from her knickers.” There’s the story of Little Red Riding Hood that everyone knows and then there’s the Roald Dahl version. Revolting Rhymes, his collection of rebooted fairy tales, is as much fun for adults as it is for kids.
2) It’s based on a Roald Dahl book
Roald Dahl wrote most of your childhood favourites, from Matilda to The BFG, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory to James and The Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr Fox to The Witches. He’s been called “one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century” and “amongst the world’s best-selling fiction authors.” But it’s Revolting Rhymes that is the most fun for parents to read, with its subversive sense of humour.
3) It features all your favourite childhood characters
Cinderella’s fairy godmother, The Big Bad Wolf, Jack and a beanstalk and his nasty mother all feature, but be warned: as Dahl himself wrote, “I guess you think you know this story. You don’t. The real one’s much gorier.” For example, the seven dwarfs become gambling-addicted jockeys, while The Guardian described this version of the three little pigs as “a cautionary tale of finance and property-developing pigs.” And if you’re looking for a story to discourage your daughter from waiting for a prince to solve all her problems, this is the animated special for you.
4) It was partly animated in Cape Town
Produced by Magic Light Pictures, Revolting Rhymes was animated at Magic Light’s Berlin studio and Cape Town’s Triggerfish, who also animated Magic Light’s award-winning Julia Donaldson/Axel Scheffler adaptations Stick Man and The Highway Rat, which are also on Showmax.
5) It was nominated for an Oscar in 2018
Mike Buckland, head of production at Triggerfish in Cape Town, attended this year’s Academy Awards ceremony, where Revolting Rhymes was nominated for Best Animated Short. It didn’t bring home an Oscar, but it did win everything else, including the International Emmy Kids Award for Animation; Best Animation at the BAFTA Children’s Awards; Best Animated Special at the Annie Awards; Best One-Off Special at Kidscreen; and Best TV Film at Annecy, the world’s most prestigious animation festival.
6) It’s made by the directors of The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom
Revolting Rhymes was directed by Jakob Schuh (The Gruffalo) and Jan Lachauer (Room on the Broom) and co-directed by Bin Han To. If you haven’t seen Magic Light’s animated adaptations of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s bestselling picture books, The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom, you’re in for a treat: they were both nominated for Oscars and won at Annecy. And they’re both available to stream on Showmax.
7) You get to listen to Dominic West and Rose Leslie
Revolting Rhymes is voiced by a stellar cast that includes Dominic West (The Affair) as The Wolf; Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones) as Red Riding Hood; and Gemma Chan (Humans) as Snow White.
(A scene from Revolting Rhymes. Photo: Supplied/Showmax)
Click here to watch Revolting Rhymes on Showmax right now!
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