The appearance of the John Lewis Christmas ad on television heralds the beginning of the festive season for many around the world.
This week, the department store introduced its latest yuletide mini-film, a – no spoilers – heart-warming two-minute tale of a young boy and the monster living under his bed.
Directed by Michel Gondry (the man behind The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), the 2017 ad tells the story of Joe, a seven-year-old boy whose slumber is disturbed by Moz, the seven foot imaginary monster that has taken up residence under his bed.
The blockbuster advert, which has been estimated to cost around £7million, also features an Elbow cover of a Beatles track, ‘Golden Slumbers’ – contrary to previous rumours that the department store would use a cover of ‘Last Christmas’ in homage to the late George Michael.
It’s certainly not the first time that John Lewis have opted for a lo-fi cover version: previous years have seen Ellie Goulding covering Elton John’s ‘Your Song’, Slow Moving Millie doing The Smith’s ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’ and Lily Allen singing ‘Somewhere Only We Know’, which went to number one.
John Lewis’s festive offering is known for tugging at the heart strings, often prompting many to say it made them cry.
Previous years have seen Buster the Boxer looking wistfully at his woodland creature pals bouncing on a trampoline, only to get his own change at jumping on it on Christmas morning; an old man who lives on the moon being sent a present by a little girl who can see him through her telescope; and a snowman travelling to give his girlfriend a present.
Our favourite was probably the 2013’s Bear and the Hare, which was an animated story about the friendship between two unlikely animals, with the hare giving the bear an alarm clock as a present to wake him up from hibernation in time for Christmas.
This story was originally published on Grazia.
