Three years after Man vs Bee, Rowan Atkinson reprises his role as Trevor Bingley, house-sitting again but this time with a baby in tow. It’s quite unusual to see this sort of physical comedy these days, and this time round it’s set at Christmas and there’s an underlying sweetness to it all. Also returning is composer Lorne Balfe, whose warm-hearted music incorporates various Christmas tunes as a result.
The highlight though is the earworm of a main theme, heard frequently on the relatively short album – a long-lined melody full of happiness, it’s a little piece of festive joy. There are two distinct sections to it and one or other is present in nearly all the album’s tracks – the opening piece presents the fullest presentation and I love the a capella vocal version in the closing one. In between variations on the theme (some comic, some adventurous, some surprisingly heartfelt and emotional) we get interpolations of “Deck the Halls” and “O Christmas Tree” and The Nutcracker and the whole thing is so lovely and warm and fuzzy and jingle bellsy, a Christmas feast with all the trimmings.
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