The Snowman And The SnowCat

The Snowman and the SnowCat is a 2012 animated short film. It is the sequel to The Snowman, and was created to mark the 30th anniversary of the original short film. it features a new song called "Light the Night" by Razorlight drummer Andy Burrows. The Snowman and the SnowCat won the Televisual Cat Award 2013 in the Best Children's category.

Plot

The Story Begins similarly to The Snowman At The House Where James the Boy from The Snowman used to live It Cuts To Another House

One Summer Day a Boy named Billy and his Mother moved to a new house Billy helps his Cat By Feeding Him as Autumn arrived Billy's Cat has died And He Burys Her In The Back Garden As Christmas approaches Billy writes a letter to Father Christmas the one and only thing he asks for is another Cat to replaces his Dead One he then Goes to the Floorboard In His Bedroom Where He Gets A Box With Tinsel In It He Finds A Photograph Of James And The Snowman as well as the original Hat Scarf Coal Lumps and Carrot (Once The Snowman's Nose)

As Billy peers out of the Bedroom Window It Began To Snow He rushes out to build a Snowman as in the Photograph but after completing his lower body he realises that not enough snow has fallen to complete the task having already used all the snow in the garden. He runs around the yard salvaging every bit of snow he can find off fences and a shed's roof and suchlike he decides that the original Carrot is long past its usefulness so, discarding it in the garden, he claims a fresh one from a fruit bowl in the kitchen. He finally completes the Snowman and in memory of the Cat The Snow To build A Little Snowcat With A Leaf for the tail Sticks For the ears Gloves For the Spots and a Carrot For the Nose

Night Time approaches And Billy goes to bed and drifts off to sleep As midnight arrives he is awoken by a Cat meowing in the garden Billy looks out his bedroom window and notices the SnowCat waggling its ear at him As Billy rushes downstairs he finds to its surprise that they have both came to life The SnowCat licking the snow uncovers the Yarn that had once belonged to Billy's Old Cat and starts to play with it. The Yarn bounces into the house and the Snowman And The SnowCat enter it The Snowman Sees The Photo Of James And Him on the fridge and smiles Before too long Billy realises that the SnowCat has started to melt after sitting too close to the fireplace in the kitchen. They then head back outside and explores the garden shed where the motorbike, which the Snowman rode in the First Film can still be seen along with others from James' family home

Not long after, the three are off into the open air to visit the snowman party in the frozen north However when flying The Snowman loses his nose, and as they land to search for it, they come across an old red single light plane that they use for the rest of their journey. During the flying sequence, as in the original, a number of famous English landmarks can be seen, such as The Shard London Eye Big Ben And The Gherkin as the three fly over London

When the Snowman The Snowcat And Billy reach the gathering, the party is in full swing with many snowmen from the original. During the partying the three of them decide to enter a downhill race against Snowmen competitors and a skilled skiing Penguin As they descend the course, however, many of the participating Snowmen including the big Snowman end up embedded in snow drifts, but Billy and the SnowCat manage to stay hot on the Penguins Tail and the duo win the race to be congratulated on their victory by Father Christmas himself

As The Sun Starts To Rise And The Snowman Signals His Departure another Snowman finds Billy's Letter and whisper into Father Christmas's Ear From his Sleigh Father Christmas reveals a small present which he gives to Billy While Another Snowman Flies The Plane Back Home The Snowman Billy And The SnowCat Return Home By Flying

Upon arriving home Billy Unwraps His Present A Cat Collar which he places round the SnowCats Neck where it then turns into a Real Live Cat that matches the one that Billy asked for They both say goodbye to the Snowman and head inside the house

The Next Morning Billy awakes to find his bed empty and searches for the Cat His search ends in the kitchen, where his Cat trying to get outside As the two go out into the back garden together, they discover that the Snowman has melted for the second time. Beside the melted snow The Cat Where Billy Named Him Kitty Places Her Yarn The Two Kneel Together saddened over the Snowman's Disappearance

Production

The 24-minute film, taking nearly two years to complete, cost £2 million to produce and like the original movie was created from over 200,000 hand drawn images. While the film was primarily hand drawn, CGI was used to add digital falling snow and lighting effects

The composer Howard Blake, who composed the soundtrack to the original 1982 film was one of the few crew members not asked to return and after expressing an interest in returning was allegedly asked to send a demo which he refused citing the success of the original orchestral production score The film instead features a  pop-music orientated soundtrack featuring the songs Light the Night (Flying To The North Pole) And Home Town (Returning Home) by Razorlight drummer Andy Burrows plus incidental music by Ilan Eshkeri.