Finn Family Moomintroll

Everything about this cassette makes it look like a sure-fire winner: favourite author, popular reader and all presented with a good cover adapted from the original artwork complete with a version of the much-loved hand lettering. But, alas, it disappoints. Tove Jansson's stories of the Moomins and their friends, the Snork Maiden and the Hemulen, are full of many things, including wonderful fantasy and even philosophy, but driving them all is Jansson's delicate and tender humour. Sadly Hugh Laurie seems not to find them funny. The result is that though the adventures remain original and the Moomin world full of delightful detail, the characters come across as quaint but lifeless, very different from the amusing and memorable individuality that bubbles through the writing.