''Caillou's Holiday Movie'' is a 2003 Canadian

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

Christmas film Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists and writers. A prominent aspect of Christian media, the topic first appeared in in literature and Christmas music. Filmmakers have picked up on this wealth of material, with both adaptatio ...

, based on the 1997 Canadian TV series ''

Caillou ''Caillou'' () is a Canadian educational children's television series which aired on Teletoon (both English and French versions), with its first episode airing on the former channel on September 15, 1997; it later moved to Treehouse TV, with i ...

'', itself based on the 1989 book series of the same name by

Hélène Desputeaux Hélène Desputeaux (; born July 10, 1959) is a Canadian educator, writer and illustrator from Quebec. With writer Christine L'Heureux, she created and illustrated the character Caillou who appeared in a series of children's books and a televisi ...

. ''Caillou's Holiday Movie'' was released

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

on VHS and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

on October 7, 2003.

Plot

It's a very special holiday for Caillou when he learns about Christmas traditions around the world and the importance of giving and sharing. When Caillou wonders just how many days there are left until Christmas, his father, Boris gives him a Christmas calendar featuring holiday traditions from countries around the world in every window. Caillou also goes tobogganing, learns how to ski and plays Hanukkah games with his friend Leo. Caillou also gives away some of his toys when he learns about children around the world that are in need of toys such as his old ones he no longer plays with. Caillou's little sister Rosie also gets in on the Christmas fun. When Doris offers to help Rosie with making gifts, Rosie decides to try it on her own. The film features several songs performed by the cast of the film, including "Where Christmas is Not the Same", "Eight Days to Go" and "Everyday", which was performed by French-Canadian artist Marilou.

Production

''Caillou's Holiday Movie'' was produced at Caillou Special 1 Productions Inc (A subsidiary of CINAR Corporation). The previous English voice actress for Caillou,

Jaclyn Linetsky Jaclyn Michelle Linetsky (January 8, 1986 – September 8, 2003) was a Canadian actress who played Megan O'Connor on ''15/Love'' and the title character on '' Caillou'' during the show's second and third seasons, replacing the character's origina ...

, who also played Lori Mackney in “

What's with Andy? ''What's with Andy?'' (''Sacré Andy !'' in French) is an animated children's television series loosely based on the semi-autobiographical ''Just!'' book series by Australian author Andy Griffiths. The animated series was primarily produced by Can ...

”and Megan O‘ Connor in '' 15/Love'', died in a traffic collision a month before release, and the film was dedicated to her memory.

Annie Bovaird Lindsay Anne Bovaird (born February 28, 1992) is a Canadian actress best known for voicing the title character in the animated TV series ''Caillou'', after the previous voice actress Jaclyn Linetsky died in a car crash. She also voiced Elsa in '' ...

was cast to replace Linetsky as the voice of Caillou. The film was directed by Nick Rijgersberg, written by Peter Svatek and produced by Evelyn Anyosz, Andre Auger, Diane Dallaire, Natalie Dumoulin, Louis Fournier, Julie Lovelock, Lesley Taylor and Steven Valin.

Voice cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released seven years later, featuring 18 songs. The score was composed by Jeffrey Zahn, but it wasn't featured in the soundtrack. The soundtrack was released in Canada on December 14, 2010 and later re-released on December 11, 2022 by

Varèse Sarabande Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as well as newer r ...

, this time with the hidden score by Jeffrey Zahn, who co-scored the film with Leon Aronson. , the soundtrack is available on the Canadian

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

Reception

Mark Van Hook concluded the film is "inoffensive but bland", adding: "recommending it only to young children", in a review for

DVD Verdict DVD Verdict was a judicial-themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. The editor-in-chief was Michael Stailey, who owned the website between 2004 and 2016, and the site employed a large editorial staff of critics, whose reviews ...

DVD

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video ...

released the VHS and

on October 7, 2003, the latter containing a few special features, including: * an animated interview with

. * more holiday songs. * the read-along of

The Night Before Christmas ''A Visit from St. Nicholas'', more commonly known as ''The Night Before Christmas'' and ''Twas the Night Before Christmas'' from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously under the title ''Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas'' i ...

. * six Caillou challenges. * in English, French, or Spanish languages. The film was presented in full screen as well as in 2.0

Dolby Surround Dolby Pro Logic is a surround sound processing technology developed by Dolby Laboratories, designed to decode soundtracks encoded with Dolby Surround. Dolby Stereo (also known as ''Dolby MP'' or ''Dolby SVA'') was developed by Dolby in 1976 f ...

audio; it was re-released by NCircle Entertainment and

DHX Media WildBrain Ltd. (formerly known as DHX Media, Ltd.) is a Canadian media, animation studio, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest library of children ...

as part of Caillou's 27th Anniversary on November 11, 2014.NCircle Entertainment's Website showing Caillou's Holiday Movie.
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References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0760233 2003 direct-to-video films 2003 animated films Canadian direct-to-video films Canadian animated feature films Canadian children's animated films Canadian Christmas films English-language Canadian films Animated films based on animated series Direct-to-video animated films DHX Media films 2000s children's animated films 2000s English-language films Quebec films 2000s Canadian films