Unlike the Batmobile, a redesign of Santa’s sleigh usually involves mild-mannered and unexceptional tweaks but Buck LA and Santa Monica agency RPA take the assignment to a clever new level in this 2:30 director’s cut underscoring Honda’s “The Power of Dreams” tag. Built on a head-slapping why-didn’t-I-think-of-that concept, Ryan Honey and crew execute with loving detail on all fronts reinforced with music and sound design from Antfood.

Directed by BUCK
Executive Creative Director: Ryan Honey
Executive Producer: Maurie Enochson
Creative Director: Joshua Harvey
Associate Creative Director: Steve Day
Producer: Emily Rickard
Production Coordinator: Kaitlyn Mahoney
Art Director: Gunnar Pettersson
Design: Gunnar Pettersson, Joshua Harvey, Kenesha Sneed, Trevor Conrad, Susan Yung, Jenny Ko, Ege Soyuer, Hugh Keenan
Storyboards: Cameron Lewis
CG Supervisor: Doug Wilkinson
CG Lead: Jens Lindgren
CG Look Lead: Alex Dingfelder
CG Generalist/Compositor: Jens Lindgren, Ana Luisa Santos, Joao Rema, Alex Dingfelder, Kim Zhu
Rigging: Josh Carey, Kevin Culhane
Animation Director: Steve Day
CG Character Animation: Ian Brauner, Yoav Stibelman, James Parris, Kevin Culhane, Kiel Figgins, Dony Permedi
Cel Animation: Harry Tietelman, Kendra Ryan, Song Kim, Laura Yilmaz, Yoav Stibelman, Matthew Everton, Claudio Salas
AE Animation Director: Moses Journey
AE Compositing and Animation: Moses Journey, Claudio Salas, Daniel Ferreira, Esteban Esquivo, Andreas Bjoern Hansen, Takuya Hosogane
Music Composition and Sound Design: Antfood