The inhabitants of an enchanted forest are fascinated by the arrival of a small
    boy with snow white skin. The lad doesn't know how he got there, but he and
    the quirky critters quickly learn that he can manipulate the magic of the forest,
    and everything he touches turns to icey cold. But his new-found celebrity stirrs
    the forest Goblins, who are jealous of his powers, and want to take his magic
    for themselves...

    This attractive film was adapted from the storybook by David Melling. It's packed
    with extraordinary creatures and critters and was animated using "toonshaded CGI",
    which gives the characters and environments a more illustrative look. Visually,
    it is indeed very appealing. Of course, it's no surprise to discover that the young
    boy at the heart of the story is the mythical Jack Frost. After all, it's revealed in
    the title. Yes, the plot's as thin as the icy magic it casts, but it's those visuals
    which carry us through. And there's a haunting contribution from folk star Kate
    Rusby to round off proceedings.

    The project was first fanfared in December 2002, by Alastair Swinnerton's
    BA20 Entertainment. At the time, the film was to have been animated by
    Stardust Pictures (headed by Dino Athanassiou). But a lot can happen during
    a production period, with all the ups and downs of developement and funding,
    and in this case BA20 became Corsham Entertainment, before Jack Frost
    Productions was formed especially for the film. What's more, Zoo Films
    stepped into the Stardust role too. The BBC picked up all non-publishing
    rights in April 2004 at MIP and they finally premiered the finished film over
    Christmas 2004. At the time,  there was talk of a potential series
    commission, but sadly, nothing further has been announced as yet.

 

    Icy talent

    "I see talent", geddit? - Well, stupid puns aside, here's a film with an array
    of talented folk making up the production team. Take a look:


     Alastair Swinnerton - Writer, Co-Producer, Co-Director
     (The Wombles, "The Baskervilles", "Bionicle")

     Neil Graham - Co-Producer, Co-Director
     (Father Christmas, "The Tigger Movie")

     Nic Camecho - CGI Director
     ("Family Guy", "The Rugrats Movie")
    
     Gary Andrews - Animation Director
     (The World of Peter Rabbit, "The Tigger Movie")

     Gary Kurtz - Co-Execuctive Producer
     ("Star Wars", "The Empire Strikes Back", "Dark Crystal") 

     John Coates - Co-Execuctive Producer
     (Yellow Submarine, The Snowman, Peter Rabbit, etc) 

     Colin White - Animation Artwork & Production Supervisor
     (Plague Dogs, Watership Down) 

     Colin Towns - Music
     (Angelina Ballerina, Fungus the Bogeyman, Faeries ) 

 

    In the news

    The Hound: December 2002
     Jack Frost is coming...

 

    Broadcast info

     The film premiered on the CBBC channel, 24th December 2004 at 2.15pm.
     It aired on BBC1 twenty-four hours later, on Christmas Day at 9.00am.

 

     On the web


     Kate Rusby
     More on Kate plus details of her contribution to the film...

     Colin Towns
     More on Colin's extensive musical career...

     Gary Martin
     And here's Gary's place, with details of all his voice over work...