Oscar-Nominated Animated Short Films-2018

Directors-Alison Snowden, David Fine, Domee Shi, Becky Neiman, Louise Bagnall, Nuria Gonzalez Blanco, Andrew Chesworth, Bobby Pontillas, Trevor Jiminez

Scott’s Review #869

Reviewed February 18, 2019

Grade: A

Having the honor of being able to view the five short films nominated for the 2018 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at my local art theater was pretty amazing.

Far too often dismissed as either irrelevant or completely flying under the radar of animated offerings, it is time to champion these fine little pieces of artistic achievement.

On par with or even superseding the full-length animated features, each of the five offers a vastly different experience, but each offers either inspired or hopeful messages or dark, devious, and edgy stories.

The commonality this year is that four of them feature parent-child relationships.

Below is a review of each of the shorts.

Animal Behaviour-2018 (Canada)

The weirdest in the group, Animal Behaviour is also the most humorous and the best in the bunch, but only by a narrow margin.

We witness a therapy session led by a prim and proper dog, who has his issues. In attendance are a blood-sucking leech, a praying mantis, a cat, a pig, and the newest attendee, a gorilla. All are happy to participate except the gorilla who sees the session as a waste of time.

As eating jokes, butt jokes, and other adult humor encases the camaraderie each character develops a clear identity and the gorilla learns, in comedic fashion, that he does require therapy.

This short plays out like an intelligent television sitcom. Grade: A

Bao-2018 (USA) (Won)

The most mainstream of the contenders, Pixar creation Bao is cute and heartwarming and an ode to motherhood.

A perfect Mother’s Day offering, the story tells the tale of a Chinese mother who imagines one of her delicious dumplings to be her son. She takes him to soccer practice, rides the bus together, and is inseparable.

As the dumpling matures, he wants to be alone, see friends, and eventually meets a young woman and proposes marriage. The mother is aghast and in a state of panic swallows the dumpling!

Depressed, she is awakened by her real son, and the two form a sweet bond made from respect and love. The story is blooming with colors and nuanced with kindness so is easily the crowd favorite. Grade: A-

Late Afternoon-2018 (Ireland)

Some will undoubtedly find Late Afternoon a bit of a downer, but I found its honesty uplifting and fraught with creativity.

An elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer’s disease is visited by a caring nurse each afternoon. The nurse is kind and her actions, serving a hot cup of tea or giving the woman a book to read, trigger memories of her youth with so much promise lying ahead of her.

Eventually, she can recognize that the nurse is her daughter.

The short is filled with compassion and while melancholy it is also inspiring, not to mention the creativity immersed in the colors and design. Grade: A

One Small Step-2018 (USA/China)

The most conventional in the lot, One Small Step will be perceived as empowering to women and a story of both loss and courage.

A Chinese-American girl is raised by her patient and caring single father in California. She is taught to reach for the stars and he kindly repairs a shoe of hers and secretly stores it away.

Over the years she is determined to become an astronaut and while she loves her father, she oftentimes takes him for granted. She is denied admission into a prestigious school and, depressed, gives up her dream.

When her father dies suddenly the girl redoubles her efforts and finally becomes a successful astronaut in dedication to her father.

The short champions energy and a never-give-up attitude. Grade: A-

Weekends-2018 (USA)

Weekends is my second favorite of all the shorts, bare runner-up to Animal Behaviour.

The most complex and confusing, the short also features the most interesting hand drawings and artwork with a surreal and beautiful touch.

A child of divorce spends his weekdays with his mother and his weekends with his father. His mother is depressed and lets the house languish while his father lives a metropolitan bachelor-style life.

When the mother begins dating an abusive man the boy is terrified imagining birthday candles that turn into the frightful man. The mother wears a neck brace which implies physical abuse.

The short is moving and hits home on a personal level. Grade: A