Review: The Oscar-Nominated Short Films, Animated
On Thursday, I reviewed this year’s stellar batch of Oscar-nominated, live-action short films (which can be read here). Yesterday, I attended a screening of the five animated short films nominated for Academy Awards. Overall the animated selection was a little bit weaker than the live-action shorts, but there were a few gems and they were all pretty good. Here’s a look at this year’s nominees:
French Roast
A wealthy man sits in a French coffee-shop enjoying a small snack, and is interrupted by a homeless man begging for change. With a sense of entitlement, he dismissed the man and continues drinking his coffee. When finished, the man reaches for his wallet to pay his bill, discovering that he doesn’t have in on him. The rest of the short displays his desperate, sometimes creative and always funny attempts at securing the funds to pay his check. Rendered in impressive computer animation, French Roast is a fun way to spend eight minutes.
Rating:
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
When Granny O’Grimm offers to tell a story to her granddaughter to help her sleep, the child is inexplicably terrified. As the seemingly sweet old lady dives into her version of the tale of Sleeping Beauty, the little girl’s fear becomes immediately justified. Granny O’Grimm transforms the fanciful fairy tale into a terrifying story about wicked magic and the perils of growing old. This dark and twisted fairy tale for the slightly disturbed is relentlessly funny and always entertaining.
Rating:
The Lady and the Reaper
Animated in a style reminiscent of a computerized version of the tone found in Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Lady and the Reaper is the story of the difficulties faced in crossing over to the afterlife. When the lady of our story, who is having a hard time coping with the loss of her husband, dies peacefully in her sleep, she is visited by the Grim Reaper. As the Reaper begins escorting her away from life, she is torn away from him by doctors working to revive the old woman. Wanting to be with her husband, the lady joins the reaper in trying to resist the powers of modern medicine, resulting in a hilarious Scooby Doo-style chase between the lady and the Reaper and a team of doctors. Audiences will enjoy the wonderfully balanced blend of slapstick humor and existential themes.
Rating:
Logorama
Logorama is a typical heist story told entirely through the use of animated corporate logos and mascots. The 16 minute short is ambitious and interesting to watch, if only for it’s creative use of logos, but the story is underdeveloped and unnecessarily vulgar (and I’m not one to usually complain about a smattering of f-bombs and gratuitous sex or violence). This will probably be lauded as a genius commentary on capitalist culture and our relationship with corporations, but for me, it just felt like pretentious Oscar-bait.
Rating: 
A Matter of Loaf and Death
Things seem to be going well for Wallace. He and Gromit have turned their home into a successful bakery. He even has a new girlfriend! It’s just too bad that she happens to be the serial killer who has murdered twelve local bakers, hoping to use Wallace to round out her “baker’s dozen” of victims. Gromit discovers her true intentions and tries to warn his companion, but to no avail, forcing him to expose the woman for who she really is. The characters of Wallace and Gromit are always fun to watch and the claymation is endearing, but A Matter of Loaf and Death is just a rehashing of their old tricks and contributes little to the W&G canon.
Rating:
As you can tell, my favorite of the five animated shorts is Granny O’Grimm, which is also my bet to take home the Oscar on March 7th. The nominated short films are definitely worth watching (both the Animated and Live-Action selections). Whether you’re a casual movie-goer or a bonafide film-buff, there is something here for everyone.
Visit www.theoscarshorts.com to find screenings in your area or download the nominated shorts on iTunes (I recommend seeing them on the big-screen if possible).
