I'm tempted to give four stars to this stop motion feature film from Britains' Bolex Brothers, but would like to give it a fresh viewing first, as it's a few years since I last saw it. In the meantime I'm more than confident that it's worthy of a strong 3.5.

This is a nightmarish, grotesque re-telling of the Tom Thumb story. Tom is a tiny baby, small enough to rest in his father's hand, born to a working class couple. However sinister figures in black take him away for laboratory experiments. He escapes with the help of a tragic, freakish fellow prisoner, and joins up with the fringe-dwelling 'little people' as he attempts to find his way back to his father.

The film is dirty, grotesque, mouldering and bizarre. If it calls anything specific to mind, it's Jan Svankmajer's 'Alice', though I actually think this is a considerably better movie. In general anyone who likes Svankmejer, The Brothers Quay, or the French movie ' City of Lost of Children' should check this out, as it reminds me of all three of these. It is more coherent and user-friendly than the Quay's or Svankmajer's work, though. It also combines these filmaker's penchant for horror, weirdness, decay and grime, with genuine lump in the throat emotion at times. No small achievement. The squallor and 'ewww' factor is offset by the genuine pathos and empathy you feel for the main characters. This isn't just a clever, cerebral movie. It has heart and guts.

Though I've quoted some films which are similar, there's nothing quite like this in the animated cannon. Nothing that springs to mind anyway. Despite its visual similarity to The Quays or Svankmajer, it is far more animation-centric than Svankmajer's feature films, and in feel it really reminds me of 'City of Lost Children' more than anything. And BTW if you haven't seen that movie, rent it immediately.

The other remarkable attribute of Tom Thumb is that it's a completely stop-animated feature. That may not sound that remarkable, considering it features a mix of obvious stop-motion and live actors - but the live actors are stop-animated as well! To be clearer about what this actually entails, when Tom's father smiles, the live actor had to move his mouth a little, a shot was taken, he'd move it a little more, another shot was taken, and so on. In other words, the actors were treated exactly as if they were claymation props. The effect is amazing and unique.

It's been a long time now, and director Dave Borthwick's only other excursion has been 'The Magic Roundabout' of all things. Chase this up. You might end up hating it, but I promise you won't forget it.