Review of The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff

I thought it a smashing success in so far as it managed to uncover our expectations towards these oldy-timey-feely Christmas programs and build up a not-altogether-unpleasant-to-the-eye caricature or formula of the whole business. In our silly and trusting ways, we incline towards taking that, which is portrayed in a more serious manner, as trustworthy representation of actual fact, or indeed merely more likely to convey 'the way it really-really was', the selling of dodo-crisps or what have you is perfect in so far as it exposes the core of the genre (and of the entire medium, while we're on the subject) as something that is wholly constructed and artificial. One wasn't 'sucked in' as with films that are more tightly woven, but the characters, albeit superficial, were still entirely charming on an as-is basis and as the unnaturalness disturbed the viewer, it also set off a thought process thereby also including the them, which is something that these mini-holidays usually don't succeed in doing. So nods to Messrs Mitchell, Webb and Fry.