HAPPY SNAIL synopsis

LOGLINE

The happiest snail is sometimes the slowest. 

PITCH

When Happy Snail has to move across town, he does it his way. He moves at his own speed, makes new friends, and watches the clouds, even if his family makes fun of him for his slow pace. Who cares how fast you move in life, as long as you’re happy and enjoying every step! 

SYNOPSIS

Happy Snail, the slowest of all the snails in his large family, loves to smell the springtime flowers and warm himself in the sunshine, waddling with his big shell. Even when it rains, he enjoys the tender rain drops on his tongue and washes his tiny body. In the winter freeze, he hides in the crevices of the garden, hibernating underneath a layer of slime. Now that it is spring, he is happier than ever, ready for summer and all the joy with it. More than anything, Happy Snail likes to watch the clouds, watching for a cloud that looks just like him. Despite all Happy’s kind rebuttals to his family, Meany threatens him that the Gardener who runs the garden is moving it across town, and Happy will be too slow to ever make it to the new garden. Happy says he will enjoy every minute of making his way to the new garden, and he’ll make new friends. As the days go by, the Gardener plucks Happy Snail’s favorite flowers, and he moves across town. Happy just decides to enjoy the journey, watching his entire family creep past him in the grass.

The Snail family ridicules Happy as he tries to make his way to the garden, saying summer will be over by the time he gets to the new garden, but Happy Snail has never been happier, dilly-dallying across town at his own speed. He bumps into his friend Mr. Sloth, watching the clouds, and asks him if he wants to come with Happy to the new garden. As Happy Snail and Mr. Sloth make their way across town, Giant the Tortoise catches up to them. He wants to come to the new garden, too. He says he hopes he can keep up and not get lost. Then the Tortoise joins the group, pointing out that Happy Snail’s family is not that much quicker than they are, creeping only a few inches in front of them. Let them think what they want if they are happy, Happy Snail says. He knows they never notice the clouds or make new friends. They’re trying to be so much faster than everyone, but they’re missing out on what makes them special. All of a sudden, Koala the Bear decides to the join the pack, because he thinks if you’re slow, you might as well love being slow. Slug the Slowest agrees, acknowledging that speed doesn’t do him any good—even if he’s on time, he’s still late. Of course, American Woodcock, the world’s slowest bird, fit right in with the Happy Snail. He loves being himself, and no one is really like him. 

By the time Happy Snail, Mr. Sloth, Giant the Tortoise, Koala the Bear, Slug the Slowest, and American Woodcock made it across town to the new garden, they become the best of friends, finding each other’s faces in the clouds. The Snail family, of course, only arrives to the garden a few moments before Happy Snail and his sidekicks. However, they have no new friends and have missed out on the spectacular cloud show in the mid-day sky. Meanwhile, Happy Snail is happier than ever.  If the Gardener hadn’t moved the garden, he would have never grown to love his new group of friends. He asks them to never walk faster than he does, because he needs all of them with him forever.

Copyright 2022 Jennifer Waters