One of my childhood favourites, Brambly Hedge manages to ingratiate author Jill Barklem's original illustrations into stop motion films that retain a style that is remarkably sympathetic to the original vision. As the illustrations are used to show cross sections of the trees that the mice inhabit, it could be said that their inclusion is a strategic way of avoiding the need to construct complex and expensive sets. However, building the many trees as they are in the books, filled with mazes of chambers and corridors, would not be an efficient use of time considering the amount of time such shots are on screen, and the illustrations are an effective substitute as it adds to the traditional feel.
Often when working with animals, animators choose between keeping the animal on all fours and emphasising the gestures of tails and ears for communication (see Bambi and The Fox and the Hound) or giving them more human qualities and movements (see Bugs Bunny and Wile E Coyote). With Brambly Hedge makes use of the mice's tails while also using anthropomorphism, thereby optimising the expressive abilities of puppets which have limited facial manoeuvrability- they don't even blink.
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