Harvie Krumpet (2003)

Did you know that the average person uses 19 miles of dental floss during their lifetime? Well that's one of the "fakts" that "Harvie" knows - but I jump the gun... We start in Poland in 1922 when he is born, upside down and back to front, to a loving but poverty stricken couple. They doted on him, even when he was diagnosed with Tourette's. A disaster befalls him, though, when he returns to find his family home reduced to ashes and his parents frozen solid to their bike. The arrive of the Nazis sends him to Australia where his calamity prone life continues. He ends up with a (magnetic) steel plate in his head, gets struck by lightning, gets testicular cancer and smokes 28 cigarettes a day - yikes, I'd just have jumped. Then he meets a nurse ("Val") and happiness might be on the horizon. They marry, adopt a daughter who grows up and moves to America. More misfortune strikes and "Harvie" ends up in an old folks home waiting for God to call time... Is there time for a last hurrah? The animation is very much in the style of Aardman and is engaging to watch - even if poor old "Harvie" is a bit of a mishap magnet. It's really the dead pan narration from Geoffrey Rush that gives this a bit of extra oomph, though. His descriptions of the scenarios are simple and straightforward - virtually no inflection or emphasis, just a flat and effective accompaniment to the life and times of "Harvik Milos Krumpetzki".