The Most Magnificent Thing is a 20-minute animated short film produced in 2019 by Nelvana, the famous Canadian animation studio that's done work on everything, from Inspector Gadget (1983) and Care Bears (1980s) to 6teen and Max and Ruby. It is the Animated Adaptation of a children's picture book of the same name by Canadian author Ashley Spires, and is also the very first animated short film to be produced by Nelvana in the studio's 40+ years, being directed by Canadian animator and Nelvana veteran Arna Selznick (previously known for her work directing the Franklin series).
Featuring the narration of Whoopi Goldberg, the story's main characters are a little girl with a love for carpentry and her pet dog, her best friend and faithful sidekick. One day, the little girl's mother gifts her with the one thing she always wanted most - her own personal toolkit! And with it, our young protagonist decides to build something for her Canine Companion, a doghouse. But she doesn't want this doghouse to be merely special, she wants it to be magnificent. However, making something for her little pooch that can truly be considered "magnificent" is not an easy task, even for a creative little mind like hers, and the question for her will be if she can really make the most magnificent thing.
In 2024, the film received a TV series spinoff titled Millie Magnificent, which airs on Treehouse TV in Canada. Additionally, that previous year, Nelvana would produce a second animated short film titled Jelly, which also explored themes of the creative experience.
Tropes:
- Adaptation Expansion: The short maintains the same plot premise as the book and many of the same key plot points, but how they get from Point A to Point B results in some expansion to the original material.
- Perhaps most significantly, in the original book, the little girl didn't have anything particular in mind when she decided to make something "magnificent". Rather than wanting to build the perfect doghouse for her cherished companion, she simply hobbled together the various materials she had into various shapes in hopes of making something that she would like. And while the problem of neither her nor her dog being satisfied with how anything they make turns out remains unchanged (as is how they solve it), her epiphany in the book was more about how the best thing to do would be to make something special for her dog, whereas the short makes it more about her realizing she has to try something different that would make both her and her dog happy even if it wasn't completely perfect.
- An illustration on one page of the girl holding a mock interview with her dog is expanded to an entire scene in the first act.
- In the book, the girl takes a walk through her neighborhood with her dog to cool off and is able to think more clearly when she returns. In the short, she goes to the park instead, and what she sees at the park, including how her dog being very exhausted from their walk, helps inspire her.
- The imagination sequences from the girl of the things she could potentially build from the materials in front of her are an entirely new addition to the short not present in the book.
- The girl's mother was entirely absent in the original book.
- All-CGI Cartoon: The short is done entirely in 3D animation, albeit with a Stop Faux-tion aesthetic.
- Animated Adaptation: Of the children's book of the same name. If you know anything about Nelvana, this should come as no surprise, given their storied history of producing such works.
- Canine Companion: The little girl's dog, her best friend and unofficial "assistant" in her building project. The premise of the plot is that the little girl wants to build a doghouse just for the dog.
- Canine Loyalty: The dog is very loyal to the little girl, following her everywhere and being trusted as her assistant. When she's on the verge of giving up on her project, he's the one who proposes they go for a walk to help her think, in turn helping her realize the proper project for her friend.
- Central Theme: The film's story is fundamentally about the challenges of the creative experience, most significant being the desire for perfectionism. Our story's main character spends much of the plot trying to figure out what kind of doghouse would be "the most magnificent" possible for her pet dog to live in, but nothing she makes satisfies her or her pet. Ultimately, she realizes that her creation doesn't have to be flawless, just something that will make both its creator and those it is being made for happy (or as the narrator puts it, "something she wants and something he needs").
- Childish Tooth Gap: The little girl has a little gap in the front of her teeth to indicate her tender age.
- Disappeared Dad: The little girl's mother is a prominent character in the entire short, but her father is absent.
- Dogs Hate Squirrels: The little girl's first doghouse is wrecked by the dog when he starts chasing after a squirrel. The little girl decides to make her next doghouse sturdier as a result.
- Free-Range Children: Notably averted. Although set in a peaceful, friendly Canadian suburb, the little girl is instructed by her mother to remain within her sight when she goes out to work on her doghouse (meaning she has to work from just outside the front door window) and when her dog takes her for a walk to help her cool off, she makes it clear to her mother where she's gone before leaving for the nearby park.
- Girlish Pigtails: The little girl has these to emphasize her innocent, cheery nature.
- It's Always Spring: Averted. The short is clearly set during autumn, with red and orange leaves being visible in many shots.
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: The little girl's mother is an architect. It's implied the little girl inherited her interest in building things from her. Many of their sequences of them working on their projects even mirror each other.
- Ms. Imagination: The little girl's creative nature shines in her ability to take the various bits of junk she collects and envision what she could make out of them, represented through fantastical sequences where outlines of the various objects float into the air and circle around her
- The Narrator: Comes in the form of Whoopi Goldberg (not the first time the Canadian Nelvana has gotten a big-name American celebrity in a lead role for one of their productions).
- No Name Given: Like in the source material, none of the story's characters have a name. Averted in the TV spinoff, where the little girl is named Millie.
- Stop Faux-tion: The short is done entirely in CGI, but the style of CGI is meant to resemble stop-motion animation.
- Too Upset to Create: As the little girl's efforts to build the perfect doghouse either prove not to her liking or to the dog's liking, she becomes increasingly frustrated, to the point where her final doghouse is just a crude hunk of junk that threatens to collapse at the slightest breeze. Her feelings are personified through small dark thunderclouds buzzing about her head that cloud her judgement enough that in her attempts to nail the doghouse together resulting in her hitting her thumb. Her dog helps her cool down by offering his leash to take him on a walk.
- Unreliable Voiceover: A small comedic example, adapted directly from the book. When the little girl goes outside to work on her doghouse, the narrator tells us that she has "picked a nice quiet spot to work, out of everyone's way". The visuals meanwhile show the girl has left her tools and building materials scattered willy-nilly in front of the sidewalk, much to the annoyance of a random pedestrian with groceries.
- Writer's Block: Well, Artist's Block in this case, but it still matches with the story's themes of the challenges of creatives face. A big part of the story is that the little girl just can't figure out what kind of doghouse would be "magnificent" enough for her pet dog, and she gets increasingly frustrated with her lack of success until ultimately she realizes what her dog really needs.