Like everything else from the geniuses at Aardman Animations, the second season of "Creature Comforts" is absolutely brilliant. As conceived by Oscar®-winning "Creature Comforts" animator Nick Park (of Wallace and Gromit fame), the premise of this limited series is deceptively simple, but when you add the Aardman magic, it evolves into something utterly sublime: an endlessly clever and intimately revealing portrait of contemporary British society, originating as live recordings of "the great British public" then transformed through Aardman animation into a menagerie of talking animals, each bursting with humor, insight, and a rich variety of slapstick gags and memorable expressions. It's a rare kind of creative alchemy that takes place before our eyes: From original voice recordings to the finished product, each nine-minute episode is a masterpiece of anthropomorphic ingenuity, introducing us to a colorful cast of critters that reflect their real-life human counterparts as well as the cleverness of the animators themselves. Think of it as an inter-species exchange program, where chatty old ladies in a retirement home are transformed into chatty old bats dangling from a rafter, or a pair of buddies in their early 30s turn into witty slugs with a knack for whistling and making faces.
The perfectionism that has become Aardman's trademark is evident throughout these 12 hilarious episodes, each devoted to a single topic (Impressions, Sport, Monarchy Business, Communication, Self-Image, etc.) and animated in plasticene to emphasize wildly inventive visual translations of everyday conversation. The "casting" is flawless, comedic timing is impeccable, and abundant bits of throwaway business ensure that you'll see something new with every viewing. Meticulously crafted sets, props, and backdrops complete the illusion, and the final result is artistry of the highest order, combined with a heartwarming humanism that's both universally appealing and quintessentially British. For everyone involved, "Creature Comforts" guarantees a delightful kind of immortality, and the rest of us get to share in the fun.
This two-disc set also includes the acclaimed Aardman holiday short "Merry Christmas Everybody!", and disc 2 includes a wealth of behind-the-scenes features delving into all aspects of Aardman's arduous animation process. There's a "making of Season 2" featurette covering the overall production process; "The People Behind the Puppets" shows how the British interviewees are matched with their animated animal counterparts; and "Animated Conversations" follows several animators as they struggle with the painstaking process of matching their creatures' mouth-movements with pre-recorded dialogue. Also included is "The Countryside Code," an Aardman-animated public service ecology commercial promoting preservation of the British countryside. "--Jeff Shannon"