Henry Saw: The Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts

Not the worst batch this year...


Caught a double feature last night with Ben that was showing the 10 Oscar nominated short films. Apparently these will be available on itunes starting on February 17th, so here are a few thoughts on the ones worth your 2 dollars and which to avoid. This is a review of the Animated Shorts - I'll put up my thoughts on the Live Action Shorts tonight.

THE ANIMATED SHORTS:



Lavatory Lovestory: Russian. A simple story about a woman who works in a bathroom who wants to find love. I found this one to be completely unremarkable, the humor to be clumsy, and the ending both predictable and nonsensical. I refuse to believe this is one of the 5 best animated shorts on the year...in fact I know it isn't. (More on this later). Grade: C-



Oktapodi: French. An octopus struggles to save his beloved and engages in a high speed chase through Santorini, Greece. I really, really enjoyed this one. I found it exciting, funny, economical (it's only 3 minutes), and it had the best ending of any of the other animated shorts. I don't think it should win, but this one was really fun. Grade: B+



La Maison En Petits Cubes: Japanese. In a world gradually flooding with water, an old man adapts to changing circumstances and looks back on his life. A grim, pretentious, bore. The animation is unique but not quite beautiful or gritty enough. The story is one-note and the film leaves you feeling nothing but "well that was a downer...". A dark horse to win, as it's sad and "meaningful", but it's really just crap. Grade: C



This Way Up: English. A series of misfortunes befalls a pair of undertakers on their way to the cemetery. My favorite of the nominees. It's actually funny, has a great pace, by far the coolest sequence of any of the shorts (a quick, bizarre, musical sojourn into Hell that echoes the best of Disney's Pink Elephants on Parade). A must see and I'll be pulling for it on Oscar night. Grade: A



Presto: American. A carrot triggers a war of wits between a magician and his hungry bunny. The most likely to win. It's a Pixar joint so it could be a big night for them (Wall*E is also going to win for Best Animated Film). Don't get me wrong, Presto is really good. It has the high energy of an old Warner Brothers cartoon, is genuinely amusing, and has flawless animation. I just didn't like it quite as much as This Way Up. Still, worth seeing, and you might have already (Presto was shown before Wall*E in theaters). Grade: A-

I mentioned earlier that I knew Lavatory Lovestory was not in the top 5 animated shorts of the year. I know this because along with the 5 nominated shorts, they also showed some "honorable mentions". One of the extra shorts we were shown was called "John and Karen" and was a short little story about a polar bear named John apologizing for some rude comments he made to a Penguin he has a crush on named Karen (Short clip here). It was a delightful and strange little tale that the crowd really seemed to like. It should have been among the 5 nominated films. The other shorts among the honorable mentions included the pedestrian 2005 nominee "Gopher Broke", a creepy, disturbed, and incredibly tiring epic called "Varmints", and the relatively unpleasant "Hot Dog".

So...in the end...

Will Win: Presto

Should Win: This Way Up

Seek out: This Way Up, Oktapodi, Presto, and John and Karen.

Avoid: La Maison En Petits Cubes and Lavatory Lovestory (And Varmints...if you ever should come across it somehow just run in the opposite direction).