February Movie #3: Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films

Movies Nominated:

• Adam and Dog
• Fresh Guacamole
• Head Over Heels
• Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Day Care"
• Paperman

I've seen two of these as the lead-in cartoon before another cartoon over the summer. The Simpson one was shown before Ice Age 4; Paperman was shown before Wreck It Ralph. For some reason, it always bothers me that "blockbuster"/Hollywood films get nominated. This is one of those categories where I always think the struggling movie maker should get the nom, not the already backed and produced film.

Spoiler Alert: I do give away pretty much the whole story to each of these shorts below. I figure most people won't see them anyway so this might give ya a chance to experience the movie without seeing the movie. Just a warning.

Adam and Dog is about Biblical Adam and a dog he finds in the Garden of Eden. There's not much to say about this one except I hated it. Hated it. The animation was horrible - it kept switching styles and that bothered me. I don't think it was intentional that the styles switched; I think it was two different animators. There's no talking. Adam simply stumbles upon a dog and the two become friends. At least the dog did. The day the dog spent with Adam was the best day of the dog's life. And then Adam meets Eve. He ditches the dog. And then Adam and Eve get expelled from the Garden of Eden. The dog doesn't care. He just wants to be friends with Adam. End of story. Too trite. There was nothing really different with this story than what you'd expect. Happy dog gets happier to meet someone who pays attention to him, plays with him, and gives him food. There was no twist. No real insight. Just 19 minutes of poorly drawn animation flipping by.

Fresh Guacamole is harmless. It's two minutes long. It's cute. Basically, guacamole is made. The items, although familiar, are replaced by nontraditional items. The avocado is a grenade that slices open easily but clay is scooped out of it. The onion is a baseball that, when sliced, turns into dice, and when chopped finer turns into teeny dive. The jalapeno is a green lightbulb. On the plant, it's lit. When plucked off the plant, the bulb isn't lighted. The lime is a ping pong ball. The tomato is a pin cushion. Salt and pepper come out as sequins. And the chips? Poker chips. Cute. But not gonna win.

Head Over Heels is a very sweet story. It's about an older couple who have gone two different directions in their relationship. One walks on the ceiling; the other on the floor. The share the same house but that's all that's left in their relationship. Until one day the husband makes a romantic gift for his wife, who doesn't see the gift right away. Later, when she does come across his present, she realizes that he still cares. She makes an effort to pull their two worlds back together. It's very sweet. This one is a strong contender for the win.

Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Day Care" was by far my favorite. To say that I'm an avid Simpson fan is to put it mildly. I watch the Simpsons every night as I fall asleep. It's my security blanket. Maggie is a great character. She seems so simple because she's a baby who can't talk and yet she has an amazing array of wisdom and insight. She's got a wonderfully kind heart. And that good heart shines in this movie. Maggie gets dropped off at day care. Her nemesis Baby Gerald (the Unibrow Baby) is killing butterflies and calling it art. Maggie befriends a caterpillar. Baby Gerald wants to squish it. Maggie hides the caterpillar and it goes into a cocoon. It hatches and turns into a beautiful butterfly but Baby Gerald is hot on its trail. Maggie saves the butterfly in the most simplest of ways. I loved it. Maggie the hero. It won't win the Oscar but in my heart, I will always think it should (if just for Maggie's woe of despair moment).

Paperman is probably the one that will win. It's got a lot of soul. It's in black and white, save the red lipstick on the charming woman's lips that a young office worker bumps into. One of his forms flutters away from him and smacks into the woman's face, leaving him with a momento of his encounter (her lipstick on his paper). They part. He can't stop thinking about her. The stack of papers on his desk keeps growing. He can't get his mind off this woman. What's this? She's in the building across from him? He throws a paper airplane at her. It misses. He makes and throws another one (after all, he has plenty of paper from the mountain of paperwork that keeps getting stacked on his desk). It misses, too. He makes another and another and another. They all miss. Finally, he runs out of the office to catch her as she exits the building. He doesn't catch her. He's dejected... but the pile of paper airplanes comes to life and intervenes to bring the two together. Aw. Very sweet. It's very well drawn and told. There's a lot of heart to this one. Since it was shown before a big Hollywood release (Wreck It Ralph), more people have probably seen this one than the others and it will probably win because of that. I don't think I'll be too upset if it does win because it was a sweet one. But I liked Head Over Heels more. That story hit home a little more.