Riffers: Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett
RiffTrax favorite Coronet Films imports this little stop-motion story from Japan about an elderly shoemaker who helps a fairy prince. In gratitude, the prince sends a legion of elves into the shoe shop every night as free labor to make the shoemaker's shoes for him.
It's a cute and relatively harmless little fable in of itself, though as Kevin points out the moral of the story seems to be that you should "hope for supernatural forces to lift you out of poverty." Animation is fairly inexpressive as well, as most of the stop motion models have frozen faces and limited movement. The elves themselves are said to dance, but their form of dancing is to spin in a circle like they're drunk. But this is just something pleasant for kids, so I have no real complaints with huge merit.
The riffing runs a rather bit scattershot throughout the first half of the short. Gags feel a bit all over the place, though when they hit they can bring a smile but no huge laugh. Kevin hoped that being made in Japan meant a cameo from Mechagodzilla, which made me grin. Hearty humor doesn't really hit until the elves appear onscreen, where suddenly the Rifftrax team kicks it into high gear. They have fun with the weird mannerisms of the elves and how they play around just as much as they work, causing Kevin to speak as an irate shoemaker overlooking the magic of the scenario and screaming "QUIT DANCING AND MAKE MORE SHOES!" They also compare the elves to a rodent problem, as Mike proposes a few glue traps the following night.
The Shoemaker and the Elves has some good laughs in it, though it takes a while to get there. It's maybe 65% a below average short though, which makes me hesitant in recommending it. The climax is worth watching, but the rest of it, not so much.
Thumbs Down
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