| ________________
CM . . .
. Volume XVI Number 20. . . .January 29, 2010
Leon in Wintertime is a sweet little confection, nestled in a medieval setting. An incongruously named ursine hero (“Leon” means “lion”), an elephant and a gruff hedgehog for his sidekicks, an assertive princess, and an acerbic storyteller save it from being too syrupy a tale. This half-hour sugarplum of an animation with its 3D puppets makes a perfect accompaniment to a mug of steaming hot chocolate, not to mention an alternative for those who want to indulge in something apart from--or over and above--the Grinch or Rudolph. Leon in Wintertime is a sweet little confection, nestled in a medieval setting. An incongruously named ursine hero (“Leon” means “lion”), an elephant and a gruff hedgehog for his sidekicks, an assertive princess, and an acerbic storyteller save it from being too syrupy a tale. This half-hour sugarplum of an animation with its 3D puppets makes a perfect accompaniment to a mug of steaming hot chocolate, not to mention an alternative for those who want to indulge in something apart from--or over and above--the Grinch or Rudolph. “You don’t really believe the sun went away for no reason at all, do you?” intones the storyteller. With these initial words, “the great, the grand Bonifacio” lures in his puppet audience just as surely as if he were in possession of the title character’s fishing rod. The good citizens of Balthazarville swallow hook, line, and sinker the storyteller’s spin on the season: that the Ogre is winter personified and must be appeased by a Christmas gift consisting of King Balthazar’s gold and his daughter, the Princess Molly Gingerbread. Molly issues a proclamation that she “will marry the lucky Tom, Dick, or Harry who can vanquish and destroy that most terrible boy, the Ogre.” When the Ogre abducts the princess shortly thereafter, Leon sets out to rescue her. Consequently, the storyteller’s human audience soon find themselves, with Leon, up to their chinny-chin-chins in a fine kettle of fish. If the DVD’s primary plotline is about swashbuckling adventure, its subplots catch viewers up in a tangle of relationships. Perhaps the most important concerns Leon’s evolving relationship with his parents. Leon enjoys hearing his mother recount the story of how she and his father adopted him eight years earlier. However, after his new acquaintance, the hedgehog, queries, “Isn’t it unusual for a bear to have human parents?” Leon begins to doubt that he belongs. Exercising his independence, Leon impulsively leaves home to perform with Bonifacio, who promises to teach him how to act like a “real bear.” In this instance, Leon behaves more like a teenager than an eight-year-old; granted, bears reach maturity sooner than humans. Happily, a narrative twist at the end restores harmony within the family. Thanks to the audio and visual designers, the setting elicits medieval times from the instant the title page appears on screen. The music achieves this through the strains of a flute and a harp or perhaps a lute. Reinforcing that historical atmosphere are scenes such as the one depicting an open-air market where merchants advertise honey (like Leon and his parents), chestnuts, and even “rat skins for sale!” The puppets are also costumed for that time, with males in tunics and hose, females in wimples and long skirts. Finally, the existence of a king and the princess’s adoption of a disguise when she joins the storyteller’s audience calls to mind divisions between royalty and commoners in medieval times. Locating the story in the Middle Ages, a time far distant associated with magic and superstition, makes it easier to accept ogres, talking animals, humans raising a cub as their child, and a princess willing to marry an eight-year-old bear. Further contributing to the sense of wonder that permeates the story is the use of ekphrasis. That is, Leon in Wintertime uses the medium of video to represent other artistic mediums. For instance, background scenes take on the appearance of delicate watercolor paintings: muted grays and blues for skies, and hints of soft yellow and violet shadows in the mounds of white snow all convey the essence of winter, from crisp stillness on one end of the spectrum to blustery snowstorm on the other. Once in a while, borders frame the tableaus, as if to imitate the pages in illuminated manuscripts. Certain elements of the design even take a theatrical turn, such as when trees appear as cardboard-panel stage props that slide apart to admit a mysterious woman. She presents baby Leon in swaddling clothes to the childless apiarists. With a cryptic, “Be good to him. His name is Leon,” she returns from whence she emerged, the tree-panels closing in behind her with a clank. These ekphrastic moments add another aesthetically thrilling dimension to the tale. Those who enjoy a good fairy tale, folktale, or legend will find themselves drawn to Leon in Wintertime. Who could resist a story that wraps up into one neat package so many conventions: an ogre, a runaway boy/bear, a magic apple, an inaccessible treasure, a lost key, a couple whose wish for a child comes true, a tower the hero must climb, and a motherless princess - this one at the bottom of a well. Furthermore, what storytelling would be complete without a stock phrase or two? Here the most common is the formulaic “One, two, three” paired with different conclusions. So, for instance, the storyteller concludes his description of the hungry Ogre with, “One, two, three - the one he will eat is thee!” Later, as he strikes Leon on the head with his tambourine, Bonifacio utters, “One, two, three - this is the end of the story for thee.” He speaks in a similar fashion two more times; in fact, the DVD ends on such a rhyme. This repetition lends coherence to the story because it is repetition with a difference; it subtly advances the plot. To balance the familiar and formulaic components, the video introduces whimsical absurdities that will delight viewers simply because they contradict physical laws. For example, Leon is able to haul Hannibal and the hedgehog to the top of the mountain using only his fishing line in one scene. In another, Leon stumbles onto (and into) the ingredients for the Ogre’s “princess stew” recipe: 300 pounds of peas. In a third surreal situation, the three friends take the Ogre’s massive cookbook for a crazy carpet-like ride down the mountainside, subsequently hitting their boat at exactly the right angle so they not only land in it but also propel it forward with enough momentum to fly it over a dozen rooftops. Just a little bit of good, clean, silly fun. Although Leon’s adventures occur on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the story has no overtly religious elements to it, making it suitable to watch any time of winter, not just over the holidays. Similarly, there is not a whole lot of moralizing here. Like Rudolph, whose reindeer buddies called him names, Leon similarly encounters those who nickname him “bear face”; in both cases, the take-away message seems to be “handsome is as handsome does.” Perhaps the best lesson Bonifacio reminds his audience of is that of the unreliable narrator: all stories contain truths, but tellers remain suspect. Both French and English versions are available on one DVD with the option to turn captioning on or off. Leon in Wintertime won the Alliance for Children and Television’s Award of Excellence 2008. Recommended. Julie Chychota works as a computer interpreter for students in all sorts of programs at the University of Ottawa. Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal
use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any
other reproduction is prohibited without permission.
NEXT REVIEW |
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE
- January 29, 2010.
AUTHORS |
TITLES |
MEDIA REVIEWS |
PROFILES |
BACK ISSUES |
SEARCH |
CMARCHIVE |
HOME |
