Festive Factor
66
Cosiness Rating
78
The verdict
Twenty-six wordless minutes that do more than most features manage in two hours. The animation has a hand-drawn softness nothing since has matched, the flight sequence deserves its fame, and then it does the thing at the end that no children's film would dare now. It has been a fixture of British Christmas schedules for four decades and has earned every one of them. Worth knowing about before you put it on at bedtime. Still perfect.
The certificate
BBFC U. Video/home entertainment entry classified 15/10/2002 (26m 0s), advice line: contains no material likely to offend or harm. A 2018 cinema entry exists for the double bill with The Snowman and the Snowdog (49m 46s). Confirmed on bbfc.co.uk by Darren, 27 Aug 2026.
How to watch it
Checked 27 August
- Included with
- Channel 4
- On telly
- Channel 4, every Christmas
Streaming changes constantly and we cannot promise it is still right — check the service before you settle in. Availability data by JustWatch.
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