film morning 1

It was supposed to be such a beautiful day – Mrs. Dog baked two cakes this morning, so it is picnic time! Everybody is waiting, ready to go, but their journey turns out to be full of incidents and problems – after all, the picnic is supposed to take place on a steep hill. Mrs. Dog anxiously escorts the cakes to the top of the hill. But what’s this?! The cakes have disappeared! Who’s taken them? And how?! This series of brief animated films is an adaptation of Thé Tjong-Khing’s picture book Picnic with Cake.

In the book Picnic with Cake, of which this series of animations is an adaptation, it is possible to present the disappearance and rediscovery of the cakes in many different ways, because each of the characters also experiences their own picnic adventures. This time, a rabbit is the hero, running carefree between the inhabitants of the village holding his kite. The kite has a long string, and the string does not really want to obey the rabbit because it loves to get tangled around the legs of the picnic-goers wandering up the hill.

Toni and Danny would like to help those walking on their way to the top of the hill. They therefore have prepared special walking sticks, which will undoubtedly help the climbers. At the top, it turns out the cakes have disappeared, and several fingers point at the small Rats. After all, it is they who once stole Mr. and Mrs. Dogs’ cake (as told in Thé Tjong-Khing’s book Where Is the Cake?, of which The Big Picnic is a continuation). But are Toni and Danny really guilty?

Mrs. Pig has a serious task to do. She is going with all the others on the picnic, carrying the first-aid kit in case anybody needs help. But, oh dear! – all the unfortunate mishaps only happen to her. And so, before Mrs. Pig even reaches the top, some terrible things have already occurred: the discovery of the disappearance of the cakes, the blaming of the guilty parties, and the chase. It is this very chase after the suspects that sweeps Mrs. Pig off her feet, who most needs her first-aid kit for herself.

What a naughty and sly pair! From the very start, Lizard and Frog have been up to something, trying to steal this or that. It is no surprise they turn out to be the baddiesof this story. They are so crafty that they fool all the picnic-goers, but thanks to the day’s unexpected hero, a small rabbit, everything eventually comes to light. Lizard and Frog wanted to have everything for themselves, but they end up with nothing instead.

Every lady would admire Mr. Bulldog’s muscles, but he only wants to impress one – Ms. Sheep, who makes him weak in the knees and whose heart he desperately wishes to win. All the way to the picnic, Mr. Bulldog tries to get his beloved to pay him attention, valiantly trying to keep everything under control. Ms. Sheep seems to be insensitive to the fact, but finallybrave Mr. Bulldog gets a surprise far sweeter than any cake.

Mrs. Poodle is in her pink parlour, getting ready to go out. She would like to delight the picnic-goers with her impeccable appearance, her beautiful white hair put in a bun, and with her opera-like voice, which she has been practising in the privacy of her own home. But, for some reason, the others don’t want to look at her, or even listen to her... The picnic adventures will have, for Mrs. Poodle, catastrophic results. But just when she is covered in mud, drenched, and whimpering about her fate, someone will hear her sad song, and she, in turn, will hear a round of applause.