Jun 17, 2021

Aardman exchanges clay for felt in the "Robin Robin" teaser (watch)

The first trailer has dropped for Robin Robin, a forthcoming holiday special from the U.K.'s Aardman Animations.

As we knew from teased information, the 30-minute film, which is bound for Netflix, marks a break from Aardman's house style. Gone are the wide-eyed plasticine puppets familiar from the films of Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park and studio co-founder Peter Lord. Instead, we have felt textures, soft lighting, and understated expressions:

The special tells the story of a robin who is raised by a family of mice, and has to confront her differences from her siblings. The directors are longtime collaborators Dan Ojari (Slow Derek) and Mikey Please (The Eagleman Stag), newcomers to the Aardman stable. They wrote the screenplay with Sam Morrison.

“There's also something about felt that's quite seasonal,” Please told Variety of their choice of material. “It's something that we would associate with Christmas, the warmth and softness of it. And there's something amazing about the way felt lights.”

Robin Robin comes out on Netflix on November 27. Helen Argo is producing the film. The cast is led by Gillian Anderson, Richard E. Grant, Bronte Carmichael, and Adeel Akhtar.