This was a good year for the animated shorts as Jack and I loved them all. If you can't get to a theatre, they'll be streaming on iTunes, Amazon, and Google on the 27th of February. We recommend the whole program but you can get two whole shorts and several previews if you follow the links below.
1. Dear Basketball (5:22 length). US. Kobe Bryant's farewell love letter to the sport, read by the author, is beautifully illustrated by Glen Keane (worked on Beauty and the Beast (1991), Pocahontas (1995), Tarzan (1999), Tangled (2010), and more) and scored by John Williams (last blogged for The Post). Jack and I and many others take issue with the celebration of accused rapist Bryant (the case was dropped) but we admit that the pencil drawing animation is wonderful. You can watch the whole thing on this link unless it's removed in the future for copyright reasons.
2. Negative Space (5:30). France (with voiceover dubbed in English). A man reminisces about his father teaching him how to pack a suitcase. It's in stop motion, directed by Americans Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata. Here's the trailer and an interview with the filmmakers.
3. LOU (6:45). US. This wordless Disney/Pixar production, about an elementary school's lost and found bin anthropomorphically educating a bully, was originally shown before screenings of Cars 3 and is in the same animation style. Here's a clip of the short directed by Dave Mullins (worked on Finding Nemo (2003), Ratatouille, Up, Brave, Inside Out, and Coco, to name a few) in his directing debut.
4. Revolting Rhymes (29:09). UK. The book by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake has been adapted by directors/co-writers Jan Lachauer (nominated for Room on the Broom) and Jakob Schuh (nominated for The Gruffalo) and co-directed by Bin-Han To. It tells the intersecting stories of Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood. The animation style is cartoony but not Disney. Here's the trailer. Many top notch actors perform voice work, including Rob Brydon (last blogged for The Trip to Spain) as King, Rolf, and Banker Pig; Tamsin Grieg (most recently in these pages for The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) as Babysitter, Miss Maclahose, and Grandma; and Dominic West (briefly mentioned in The Square) as Wolf.
5. Garden Party (7:22). France. Very realistic frogs romp in the dialogue-free aftermath of a wild party at a tropical mansion. Directors Florian Babikian, Vincent Bayoux, Victor Caire, Théophile Defresne, Gabriel Grapperon, and Lucas Navarro mostly make their debuts. The whole thing is now available at this link but, again, it may not be permanent.
Because the total running time of the nominated shorts is under an hour, the production company SHORTSTV has again included "highly commended" shorts.
6. Weeds (3:00). US. A dandelion on a parched tree lawn tries to jump to the other side of the driveway where the sprinklers are. It's wordless, directed by Kevin Hudson, and a production of the Filmmakers Co-op at Disney Feature Animation, and animated in traditional Disney style.
7. Lost Property Office (10:00). Australia. Also wordless, this stop-motion short follows a man who works in the lost and found of a train station and is directed by Daniel Agdag.
8. Achoo (7:00). France. Dubbed into English, this follows three flying dragons as they audition for a great honor. No surprise that one of them sneezes a lot. It's directed by Lucas Boutrot, Élise Carret, Maoris Creantor, Pierre Hubert, Camille Lacroix, and Charlotte Perroux, all making their debuts.
In between each short is a "petite interlude" with silly romping creatures.
Also no surprise that this has a 100% critics' average on Rotten Tomatoes.
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