Most UK supermarket Christmas ads this year are fighting over who can stage the biggest spectacle: a six-minute romcom here, a giant celebrity cameo there. Morrisons went the other way. “Christmas Made Just Right,” created by Leo UK and directed by Nick Ball through MJZ London, is a 90-second domestic comedy about two nervous parents getting ready to meet their son’s new girlfriend. The parents just happen to be seven-foot bears. The film went up on the official Morrisons YouTube channel ahead of its TV debut on November 9, 2026, and it is the most quietly confident thing the supermarket has done at Christmas in years.
A fairy tale played completely straight
The setup is simple. A delivery driver in a Santa hat drops a parcel at a semi-detached house on a grey northern street. Inside, Mummy Bear is fussing in the kitchen and Daddy Bear is flat out on the sofa until a text from Baby Bear lands on the phone: he is bringing someone home for Christmas. Cue panic. Mummy Bear drags a tree through the living room, Daddy Bear squeezes himself into a small hatchback and drives to Morrisons, where a fishmonger at the Market Street counter sells him an enormous salmon and talks him through it: “Just score it, squeeze on a bit of lemon, pop it in the oven.”
Only at the door does the fairy tale click into place. Baby Bear arrives with a blonde girlfriend holding a bouquet, her necklace reads “Goldie,” and the parents’ faces say everything about their history with this particular house guest. Ball has said in interviews that he gave the story a backstory in which Goldilocks was once a feral eight-year-old home invader, and the film trusts the audience to put that together without a single line of exposition. It is a neat, grown-up way to use a children’s story, and the reveal gets a real laugh because the 60 seconds before it are played like a genuine family drama.
Real bears, real weather
The craft is the headline. Instead of CGI fur, the three bears are full-size suits worn by performers, with animatronic faces operated by puppeteers, and Untold Studios handles the VFX finishing rather than building the characters from scratch. The difference shows. The bears have weight, they bump into door frames and they look slightly too big for the furniture, which is exactly the joke. Daddy Bear in reading glasses at the counter, peering at the fish, is one of the best single images of the season so far.
Matyas Erdley’s photography keeps everything flat, cold and believable: overcast skies, a cluttered kitchen, a real high street store with real trolleys. Andy Kelly’s production design gets the details right, from the slightly tired three-piece suite to the wonky tree and the mismatched place settings at dinner. Ball has said that if you start from gloss, the bears become just another bit of gloss. He is right, and it is the reason this film feels more human than most ads with actual humans in them.
Where it falls short
The weakness is the product story, which is bolted on rather than woven in. The Market Street scenes are pleasant, and the fishmonger is a nice piece of casting, but the salmon is doing a job the bears never really need. Ninety seconds is also tight for everything Leo UK wants to say. The parents’ story gets the full treatment, while Goldie and Baby Bear barely get a beat together before the dinner, and the payoff at the table, with her face lighting up at the homely spread, is a touch sentimental after such a dry build. The line “Christmas Made Just Right” is fine as a pun on the porridge, but it is not going to stick the way the bears will.
The wider campaign helps. A week-long Instagram takeover gives Baby Bear and Goldie their own Gen Z-style relationship launch, there is out-of-home work and a Gogglebox partnership, and a plush bear sold in stores sends 50p from each sale to Marie Curie. That is a sensible way to give the characters more room than one TV spot can.
The verdict
“Christmas Made Just Right” is a small film that knows exactly what it is. The practical bears, the dry northern realism and a properly clever reveal make it one of the most charming spots in a crowded UK season. The food sell is thin and the ending goes a little soft, but in a year of overstuffed epics, Morrisons proves that 90 seconds, three bears and one good idea are still enough.
Credits: Client: Morrisons (Marketing and Advertising Director: Bev Lumb). Agency: Leo UK (CCO: Andrew Long; Creative Director: Kim Gill; Creatives: Jack Stoten, Connor Wynn; Copywriter: Gareth Butters; Planning Director: Rebecca Priest). Media: Zenith. Production: MJZ London. Director: Nick Ball. Executive Producer: Dickie Jeffares. Producer: Stephen Johnson. Director of Photography: Matyas Erdley. Production Designer: Andy Kelly. Food Stylist: Elaine Ngan. Edit: Stitch London (Editor: Leo King). VFX and post: Untold Studios. Film: 90 seconds, official Morrisons YouTube. Credits per Morrisons, LBB and Creative Review.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5