User Reviews

We were looking forward to this having read the book to my kids a lot and loving most of the previous magic light ones. While the animation etc is still as good I just felt surprised at how superworm was portrayed. In the book he comes across as somewhat humble and just happy to help others while the others big him up. Well that's how we took it. But in this he was portrayed as starting his own chant and saying 'hip Hip hooray' to about himself and it just felt out of character. He's talking about himself in the first person too at times. Always a sign of a big ego. Just didn't quite land well.

The book is fast paced and great, the kids love it. This short film is too dragged out and slow. It 5 year old and 2 year old aren't too fussed, Gruffalo, Gruffalo's Child, Stickman, and Room on a Broom are delivered much more inkewping with the books.

Given the excellent track record of magic light with release like the lovely room on the broom and the highway rat, expectations were high for super worm. Whilst the book is good this misses the mark. Matt Smith irritates as the main character (perhaps through no fault of his own) and the characters just don't seem that likeable. Rob Bryson's exceptional talent is wasted in the crow and the whole thing begins to drag as it goes on. It's not a dud by any stretch of the imagine but it disappoints -perhaps thanks to the high standards set by their other productions.

This version of the book brings depth and fun to a great children book. The addition of an additional character means that narration from the book becomes an active part of the story. There are so many lovely little additions in the drawings and events that really embellish the book and give it far more depth.

The immense strength of Donaldson's books, aside from the illustrations, are the rythmic rhyming and alliterations

Stringing the dialogue out over 25 mins asks too much of the story. You end up with 14 of the mins being huffing, grunting, groans & laughs. You also get wordless additions to story that's weren't in the book, which in my opinion diminishes it overall

I know this prob sounds like over analysis of what is a kids show - BUT!! - my kids love rewatching things & I always appreciate shows that stand up to repeat viewings - with a great story and animation.

Superworm for me was poor. Also an anti ASMR horror show. Seems that it's become a style to narrate it with an audio enhanced high diction breathless whisper. I also don't need the sound of a bird struggling on toffee for a couple mins as filler till the next line of Donaldson's story

I urge you - go watch Robin Robin on Netflix. It blows superworm out the water and is of the highest quality.

We really try to go low-tech with our toddlers- but let's face it, these are crazy years and you just need the "help" sometimes too. These shorts are our go-tos for a little entertainment, and Superworm is top of the list. Great story, beautiful animation, perfect length.

People are commenting on the lack of dialogue but that is our favorite thing about the short! My girls ask great questions, and get drawn in by the expressions. It's gives the viewer to take in more of the context.

All in all, this is really well done and I believe the very best one (just above Room on a Broom). Please watch and enjoy as much as we do :)

A very strange choice of style of animation. Everything looks very smooth, lacking in detail and flat. I assume it's CGI, but it looks almost like claymation. Perhaps this was done to make it look consistent with the book? But it's a rather unsophisticated style, compared to many contemporary animated films/shorts. And the very thin story is stretched out way too long.

I love the story, and enjoyed the animation. But it's not on the same level as The Gruffalo's Child and Stickman - they have a more natural, beautifully crafted and tactile feel. This one lacked some of that, and felt too smooth and flat in much of it. Too 'computery'. That said, I've rated it an 8 as I love all of the stories, and original illustrations.

I thought Superworm struggled as a cartoon, maybe there was not enough story for a 30 minutes adaptation.

In his world Superworm is super-long and super-strong always helping out other animals and insects with his super-body.

However an evil wizard wants Superworm to dig a tunnel and find treasure. He gets his crow to capture him.

With Superworm in danger, the animals and insects band together to rescue him.

Some of the contortions are well done, such as Superworm turning into a lasso to rescue a baby toad from getting run over.

There is no doubt that Julia Donaldson's book has a lot of charm. This part of it translated, the animation style was good but felt bloated.

My children have watched this 1 or 2 times each day since it was on. (3 days). Considering the book is the lovely, but with the weakest narrative it's come out great.

Continues the animation style perfectly.

Watched this with The Smeds and the Smoos ( 2022 ) and it felt like the b movie not as enjoyable as the main feature despite it being from the same pen.

The perfect audience for these shorts are adult fans who have young children and are familiar with the stories sadly I'm neither of these well I am an adult so I'm looking at it purely from an entertainment and craft point of view and on that front it was average and not as good as the superior main feature The Smeds and the Smoos - that meant the script wasn't as good and the charm wasn't there and neither was the story so I'm guessing the failure was in the adaptation here

Average

Pad. A 5/10.

Took my step son to see Superworm and Zog at a cinema mini morning and he absolutely loved it, to the point were it's started a real love of the Julia Donaldson books. The animation is gorgeous, a stellar voice cast, yes this is aimed at young children but as said my 3 year old loved this mini film and at around 30 minutes it's just the right length for little ones.