Movie Review - Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts

Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts ***½ (NR) This is usually one of my favorite programs to cover, but this year’s selections turned out a bit less engaging than I’d hoped. The five nominees are more dramatic than comical, and mostly dwell on family and inner themes. On the plus side, they offer a good variety of styles and tones, making the experience satisfyingly diverse. Since they range from about 7 - 15 minutes, two others (not reviewed) were added for extra value.

On the lighter side, Animal Behavior is a group therapy session run by a bespectacled dog. Patients, including a leech, praying mantis, cat and gorilla open up about their species-specific issues. They collectively make Bob Newhart’s old sitcom group seem relatively well-adjusted.

The other comedic entry is Bao, from the reliable folks at Pixar. This one’s more sentimental than usual, somewhat reminiscent of the wonderful animated feature Up in tone. I enjoyed this more on a second viewing than when it debuted as the opener for Incredibles 2. That’s not the fault of Bao. The first Incredibles flick was paired with Boundin’, one of my all-time favorite shorts, and one of the worst oversights by Oscar voters (IMHO, as the kids tweet). So typical sequel dropoff not only applied to the feature, but its opening act. Even so, it’s quite a charmer.

The three that are more dramatic all involve dreams and reminiscences. Weekends is about a boy’s thoughts as he shuttles between the homes of his divorced parents. The tenor is quite somber and the “message” a bit vague. Late Afternoon refers to a stage of life, as an old woman’s reveries take her back through seminal points in her past over a cup of tea, and other memory triggers, in a sweet, low-key mental journey.

My choice for best of the lot is another sentimental view of a wistful protagonist, One Small Step. A young girl dreams of becoming an astronaut with the loving support of her father. We follow her through teen and adult stages, with life’s ups and downs along the way. This one was almost as successful as the marriage montage scene in the aforementioned Up in causing moisture to leak from an old reviewer’s eye sockets. Let’s leave that as our little secret. (2/8/19)