If what you want from a Christmas advert is an excuse to weep, then you were probably let down by the amount of joy in the John Lewis one.
Fear not, the WWF has come to the party late to fill the void.
It gets off to a good start with a gut wrenching roar, the kind that expresses the purest of pain. It’s not an over fed grandad on the sofa post-feast. We find ourselves joining a family who look confused and concerned at a tiger in one of their beds.
A tiger who is injured. Cue heartbreak.
Together the family work to heal him, though he’s resentful at first. In fact, he’s pretty ungrateful throughout, but he’s a tiger who’s been maimed by humans so we can forgive him (and hate ourselves).
As he walks away, leaving the family sobbing at his departure (but also ok with it because they know it’s best he goes back to the wild) we’re left with the message that nature needs us. It’s a moving reminder.
The 700lb cat is quite the CGI feat, so much so that people enquired whether it was doing alright, to which WWF replied: "Thank you for your concern but don't worry - this isn't a real tiger.
"It's entirely a computer-generated model which was imposed onto the scene after filming. Hope that eases your mind."
Though we shouldn’t be surprised how good it is, it was created by the same lot who produced Disney’s Jungle Book.
Aaaaaand, let it all out.
