In a 1996 interview, Peter Lord, who co-founded Aardman Animations with David Sproxton, said of stop-motion animation: “The great thing about it is that it’s a very human activity. The puppets are tactile. You grab the puppet with two hands; one hand holds the hips; one hand holds the shoulders; and you can sort of feel all the dynamics of the body – you can sense the weight and the way it should move.”
This thoughtfulness and artistry can be seen in all of Aardman’s films, including the Academy-Award-winning short subject Creature Comforts, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this year.
Before, hits such as the full-length feature Chicken Run (2000) brought stop-motion animation to new heights, Aardman brought audiences Creature Comforts.
It initially aired as part of a series of short films entitled Lip Synch, commissioned by British television’s channel 4.
In the book Cracking Animation: The Aardman Book of 3-D Animation, authors Peter Lord and Brian Sibley wrote: “The project was devised to give Peter Lord and three of Aardman’s growing staff of animators an opportunity to experiment with the idea of imaginatively animating real conversations. ‘Lip Synch’ was a wry choice of title since, although the dialogue would be synchronized to the character’s lip movements, the accompanying images would not necessarily be ‘in sync’ with the personalities, moods or settings in the recordings.”
Directed by Nick Park, Creature Comforts used the model of a documentary, however, this time, it was a filmmaker with a microphone speaking with animals in a zoo. The responses to questions were unscripted and then paired with the animals talking very matter-of-factly.
Creature Comforts begins with a sound test, and then we are taken inside the animal’s enclosures where we see a human hand holding a microphone up to each creature as they respond to their surroundings.
There is a polar bear family, parents with their cub, who is very eager to talk, a gorilla, who seems somewhat depressed at not being able to get out, an opossum, a young hippopotamus, and a Brazilian jaguar, who is obsessed with having more space.
Part of the genius of Creature Comforts is that the filmmakers didn’t use professional actors for the voices, as noted by Park in the documentary A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman
“Me and a journalist went out, trying to find people who were not that happy with where they are,” said Park, adding, “The Brazilian jaguar guy hated the food and the weather. He’s got a little flat, and he stole the show, really.”
In the documentary, Park recalled, “The polar bears always made me laugh. They were a family who ran a shop around the corner from the studio. We told the youngest one, Andrew, ‘Don’t be shy. Say what you think.’ And so he felt this obligation just to say anything.”
Nick Park
In 1990, Park and Aardman produced a series of popular commercials for Great Britain’s public electricity suppliers, using the same format as Creature Comforts. In the commercials, animals discussed their home electrical appliances.
The short also inspired a Creature Comforts series that debuted on British television in 2003. There was also an American version that aired on CBS in 2007, but only lasted for three episodes.
Thirty-five years later, Creature Comforts, like so much of Aardman’s films, has left its legacy, as noted by author Charles Solomon in his book Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation, when he wrote, “The jaguar in the Oscar-winning short Creature Comforts set a new standard for the character animation of clay figures.”
Michael Lyons is a freelance writer, specializing in film, television, and pop culture. He is the author of the book, Drawn to Greatness: Disney’s Animation Renaissance, which chronicles the amazing growth at the Disney animation studio in the 1990s. In addition to Animation Scoop and Cartoon Research, he has contributed to Remind Magazine, Cinefantastique, Animation World Network and Disney Magazine. He also writes a blog, Screen Saver: A Retro Review of TV Shows and Movies of Yesteryear and his interviews with a number of animation legends have been featured in several volumes of the books, Walt’s People. You can visit Michael’s web site Words From Lyons at: 
As the youngsters would say, “Cracking!”
In a way, the 1990 Academy Award for Short Film brings back shades of the one from 50 years prior, but better.
Back in 1940, Fred Quimby of MGM “fame” submitted two nominees: Puss Gets the Boot and The Milky Way. While the latter would win the award, the former would launch their biggest household names: Tom and Jerry.
By contrast, with A Grand Day Out losing to Creature Comforts, both shorts wound up launching respectable properties for Aardman’s coffers. But Creature Comforts usually takes a backseat to Wallace and Gromit nowadays.
In any case, the 50 year gap helps when your announcer for that award is Woody Woodpecker.
Classic then, classic always.
I always thought the Polar Bear family was a father and his 2 sons. Not parents and one child. Judging by the way the older son was embarrassed by his younger brother talking about death and cannibalism, it made sense to me. Whatever the case, it’s a brilliant film and deserves every award it won.
An absolute favorite. Thanks for the writeup.
Honestly……… I would like to know the frame rate of the short. An interview from the UK I read said 25, but the person talking to Nick Park could have been mistaken.
Aardman did a long series of ads for Chevron based on the same sort of idea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_qutwOGa6g
I’ve always admired how organic Creature Comforts is and how natural each character sounds. The fact that they weren’t voiced by professional voice actors, but rather with regular people who were dissatisfied with their everyday lives just suit the mood and tone of the characters and the film’s premise. More like art imitating life or life imitating art.
By contrast, with A Grand Day Out losing to Creature Comforts, both shorts wound up launching respectable properties for Aardman’s coffers. But Creature Comforts usually takes a backseat to Wallace and Gromit nowadays.