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Director: Boris Kossmehl
Release Date: 1993
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
When she hasn’t paid her washing machine, a girl’s aunt has to go to hell.
However, she soon returns as a zombie to fetch her handbag. The devil tries to take her once again, this time disguised as the handbag.
Atypical for the Aardman studios, ‘Not Without My Handbag’ features puppet animation and hardly any clay animation. It’s a highly designed film, using stark colors, extreme camera angles and expressionistic decors. Its unique style is somewhat akin to that of Tim Burton, but is even more idiosyncratic. Despite its horror theme, the film is more lighthearted than the earlier Aardman films ‘Adam‘ (1991) or ‘Loves Me, Loves Me Not‘ (1992), because of its zany humor and matter-of-fact dialogue. For example, when her aunt returns as a zombie, the girl suddenly turns to camera and says proudly: “My auntie is a zombie from hell!”.
‘Not Without My Handbag’ is a modest masterpiece: it’s unpretentious, but it combines originality with virtuosity. The animation of the evil handbag is particularly good. Director-animator Boris Kossmehl later moved to 3D computer animation, performing character animation for Dreamworks’ ‘Antz’ and ‘Shrek’.
Watch ‘Not Without My Handbag’ yourself and tell me what you think:
‘Not Without My Handbag’ is available on the DVD ‘Aardman Classics’
Dr. Grob's Animation Review 