Oscar Nominated Shorts -- Animated (2007)

R: This year is the first time (at least that we've noticed) that The Michigan has done special screenings of the various short films that have been nominated for Oscars. This means that I get to watch new animation twice in the span of a couple weeks. Sweet. The "Short Animation" category is one of the ones that I think still has some integrity, since there's so little money at stake. Of course, this also means that I get upset when the films are bad. Without further adieu...

THE NOMINEES!

Lifted: I thought this was pretty clever, fun, and such. It's unsurprising that Pixar put it together.

The Danish Poet: I would describe this film as "cozy." It's wonderful. And unusual, in that the narration may be the best part. While I don't believe that it was the best animated film made this year, it was certainly the best nominated, and Kate and I were both thrilled that it won.

The Little Match Girl: Note that the category is not entirely clean. If Disney makes a short, for example, they seem to get nominated, no questions ask. Some films are merely bad. There are lots of ways that animation can be bad -- the characters can be flat, the animation can be generic, the story can be dull, etc. This is all of that and more -- this film is actually obscene. They have not only applied the "Disney Magic" (which seems to involve using a team of about 100 "animators" to produce 10 minutes of film), they pulled the teeth out of the story. What bastards.

Maestro: Kind of cute. I'll notice that the nomination of a Hungarian makes the Oscars officially more "international" than the third round of the Animation Show.

No Time for Nuts: No, the rat-thing doesn't get the nut.

AND THE NON-MINEES!

One Rat Short: The animation in this is, technically, absolutely stunning, though I thought the story fell kind of flat.

The Passenger: Yawn.

Guide Dog: Double yawn.

Wraith of Cobble Hill: Yaw- wait, this one is pretty good. The main character, a young hooligan, comes across quite clearly, and is an interesting fellow. This is a student film, and it shows in a few places. There were several things that I think were supposed to be clear to the viewer, basic geographic things, that didn't come across, or at least weren't clear when they were supposed to be. All the same, it had some emotional depth, which is nice. The thing that bugged me about this was that while I'd say it's very promising, it didn't seem developed enough to belong on the short list for the freaking Oscar. Who picks the short list anyway?

A Gentleman's Duel: Wow. I might have thought this was funny when I was 11. Or 10. Maybe. But probably not. What garbage!

FINAL THOUGHTS!

Lets try to make sense of this, then. Disney gets a spot, Pixar gets a spot, that other big CG studio will cough something up -- oh, and the NFB gets to submit something. Monkeys will then put together a list of other short films, chosen at random (soon, they'll be replaced by YouTube). One of those is chosen, again basically at random (don't try to tell me that Maestro is better than The Wraith of Cobble Hill), and the Academy then votes -- that last round of voting is the one that is more or less reasonable. Not perfect, but I think it's one of the few categories where watching the nominees is an easier way to figure out who will win than following the buzz. Or the money.