The Winner and Nominees for Best Animated Short - 2011

5/11/13, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, Best Animated Short, 2011

I like books. That's why I went to library school. Mr. Morris Lessmore likes books too, in fact, he loves them. Like many shorts, the spoken word is not important at all, and doesn't exist here at all. It doesn't matter, you can follow what is going on through the action and the great use of music (for some reason Peter and the Wolf came to mind). The animation was incredible, and I loved the use of black and white coloring versus color, I don't want to spoil it if you watch, but pay attention. In this story, books have their own personalities and also restorative powers. It's whimsical and lovely and for book lovers, I think it will resonate and make you smile, and I think it was a deserving winner.  I found it on YouTube, I have not been able to find it elsewhere. I found most of the nominees on YouTube (I'm a little embarrassed I did not think of it sooner; I did not find Wild Life, but I will keep trying).

Dimanche/Sunday is a film told from the perspective of a young boy in the countryside of Canada who likes to put coins on train tracks so they get smushed (not the technical term). It's Sunday (as in the title) and shows him at church with his parents and then they go to his grandparents' where more adults come to visit. He's the only child and appears to be a little bored. It's a nicely done piece, with animation that seems 'old school', and I don't mean that in a pejorative way. I liked it, and again, there was no discernible dialog, just vocal sounds, which makes it universal. I think it could appeal to kids because I think most kids can relate to being alone in a crowd of grown ups with nothing to do but use your imagination.

La Luna is another piece of whimsy that can be enjoyed by grown-ups and kids, and would probably be fun to watch with a little kid, to see their reactions. It's the story of a son, father and grandfather who take their boat to the middle of the ocean and set up a ladder to take them to the moon (if it were only that easy) where they sweep up fallen stars from the moon's surface. It's from Pixar, so you know it is visually appealing. I wish I could remember where I saw it, I think it was a special feature on a DVD, but I cannot remember which one. It is available on YouTube for $1.99 (because Pixar doesn't have enough money).

A Morning Stroll takes place over 100 years, from 1959 to 2059 and follows a chicken on its morning stroll (just accept the premise, don't ask any silly questions). The animation follows the theme of its different decades, so the 1959 animation is black and white and pretty simple, the 2009 animation is like that of a video game and 2059 is a little more advanced and the humans from the previous time segments have been replaced by zombies. It may distress you to find out that the chicken outsmarts the zombie (or perhaps this cheers your spirits). The ending has a clever twist which made me smile. I think this was a close second to the winner and is worth a watch.

All of these were less than 15 minutes and a nice way to spend a windy, blustery day in Minnesota (seriously, if the weather stays like this, I may get through the remaining 746 movies sooner than I expected).