2014 Oscar Nominated Short Films-Animated

The five nominees  for short films were separated by an animated ostrich and giraffe which were funny (albeit rolling-your-eyes funny) to watch.

I will review each in alphabetical order.

Feral is the 13 min. story about a wild boy found in the forest by a hunter.  The boy tries to live in society by the same lessons he has learned in the wild.  The animation was dark and gray which went along with the feeling of the story.

Get a Horse! is the 6 min. story where Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow go on a musical wagon until Peg-Leg Pete tries to foil their day.  This was shown at the beginning of the movie Frozen too.  This is creative in combining black-an-white with color and also the appearance of being in and out of the film but the story was cute but less interesting than the effects.

Mr. Hublot is the 11 min. story about a character with O.C.D. who stays away from the outside world as much as possible.  A robotic pet enters into his life and turns it upside down.  This made me feel like I was watching an animated version of Her with all it's technology and lack of inter-personal physical communication.

Possessions is the 14 min. story depicting the ancient Japanese legend "Tsukimono" that states spirits attach to objects even when the object is deemed unusable.  The objects in this movie are broken umbrellas, ugly scarves and other "junk".  The spiritual world provides us with an interesting perspective of how we should perhaps live our physical "reality world" lives.

Room on the Broom is the longest film of the group at 25 min.  This tells the adapted story from the book of the same name by Julia Donaldson about a witch and a cat who, much to the cat's annoyance, pick up a dog, a bird and a frog on their journey and subsequent conflict with a dragon.  I have never read the book but would consider the story as a combination of Dr. Suess, Mother Goose and Shel Silverstein.

I would give one thumb up to Feral, Get A Horse! and Mr. Hublot for telling complete stories in a short span of time.  Which is the amazing part of short films.

I give one and a half thumbs up for Possessions in the hopes that we recognize the impact that both our actions and attitudes have on the world we live in--people and objects.

I give Room on the Broom two thumbs up as a complete story containing interesting characters (the cat especially), lyrical and humorous writing and action-filled plot.