The road to the Oscars ...
I thought I'd post the short film animations that were nominated, and hear your opinions. I'll post my opinion in a comment under each video, just 'cause I can yo!
Best Short Film, Animated
Nominees
- French Roast (2008): Fabrice Joubert
I didn't like that one at all. It wasn't funny, though they were trying too hard to be. It's like the usual Pixar shorts, but even crappier. The whole actions didn't really have a reason to happen, they just happened because they might trigger some giggles, and some people might even find it "cute". It's definitely the least one deserving to win, or even be nominated.
- Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty (2008): Nicky Phelan, Darragh O'Connell
I liked it, that one was actually funny. However, it's very lacking in plot. The characters are funny, that grandma definitely has some unresolved issues, and the way the Brothers Grimm story was modulated to show the Granny's anger can surely trigger some laughs. But at the end, the girl is terrified and it all ends here. The story of the little girl in the bed was stopped in midway, and so was the story of Sleeping Beauty. I think it ended too soon. It felt more like a sketch than a story. Not a winner, but very amusing.
- La dama y la muerte (2009): Javier Recio Gracia
The story is very nice, the editing is really good, the music and sound design were to my liking and some sequences in there were pretty interesting. Unfortunately, the choice of the style of animation didn't work very well with the story. I think this short film would've been far better if made in good old 2D animation, sadly 2D is vanishing from the theatres since the whole Pixar revolution. The physical comedy in this short, was flagrantly reminiscent of the
Tom & Jerry chasing scenes, and the surreal worlds the characters were immersed into, would've been expressed much better with a Disney-esque 2D à la
Fantasia, thus opting for 3D seems unjustified. This short could've been exceptional, but after a lot of bad decisions, this short is just fairly good. Still better than the previous two, though.
- Logorama (2009): Nicolas Schmerkin
So the videos are no longer available due to copyright claims, so here's a link to the official website, where you can watch a part of it: http://www.logorama-themovie.com/
That one is by far my favourite. Finally an animation that isn't made for 5 year-old kids. The Tarentino-esque dialogues, the thrilling action scenes, and the whole concept of Logos that was milked so extensively in every second and every frame of the short as a reflection of the absurdly commercial world we live in. When watching
Logorama, you can't stop yourself from trying to notice all the brands in every inch of the screen, and all of them are so wittily inserted (that "Nickelodeon" blob made my day), every detail is so neatly worked on.
Of course, it's not perfect, some scenes look useless, and there's not really a logic for the story. However, I feel if this animation is given the amount of praise it deserves, it might encourage future animations to be less childish, and maybe take this Media more seriously.
- Wallace and Gromit in 'A Matter of Loaf and Death' (2008) (TV): Nick Park
I only found a Trailer of the animation, but I think we all saw enough Wallace and Gromit animations to have some kind of opinion concerning the next one. I hope it doesn't win although I'm a fan (I even have the figurines), but Nick Park has already won 4 Academy Awards for his previous 4 Wallace and Gromit works (3 shorts, and 1 feature film)... so comes a time when we just feel that, enough is enough.
I hope you read through my very short reviews, and took the time to watch the short animations. I'll try to post the nominated Live Action short films, but I'm having a difficult time finding them. Comments will be sincerely appreciated.
Hope you enjoyed the lot.