Short Animated Films

Here I'll be listing the very best, recent (last 20 years) Animated Short Films.  These aren't the important ones, but the good ones.  These are the films that you should search out because you'll enjoy them.  This is a new page, so it will be a few months before I cover even the basics.  

 

Badgered (2005)

A badger just wants to sleep in his den in a Scottish hill, but he is disturbed, first by cawing crows, and then by the military placing missiles below his home. 7 min  (Full Review)

 

Billy's Balloon (1998)

With 3-D computer animation taking over the field, Don Hertzfeldt has gone the other way, creating stick figures on 35mm.  Sounds odd?  So is this film of a boy and his red balloon.  His very mean red balloon.  Or perhaps it is a justifiably upset red balloon.  Maybe it is an avenging angel of a red balloon.  And when the other balloons join in...  I think of this film as the necessary sequel and antidote to 1962's Le Balloon Rouge.  6 min Nominated for the Golden Palm at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.

 

The Chubbchubbs! (2002)

In a bar on a planet far, far away, a loser janitor dreams of being a singing star.  But everything changes when he hears that the vicious Chubbchubbs are coming.  Light and fun with plenty of inside jokes for sci-fi fans, this is one of the easiest shorts to find as it has been released on its own DVD as well as being an extra on the Men in Black II disk.  6 min 2003 Academy Award winner.

 

The Ends of the Alphabet (2004)

Jackson Abbott is a hardboiled detective in 1953 Los Angeles. When the daughter of a Las Vegas Millionaire comes to him for help, Abbott finds himself caught up in a web of murder and deceit. This archetypical film noir story is presented in "HAND-O-RAMA."  For those of you not familiar with such high tech lingo, that means hand puppets.  Yes, this is film noir, with little eyes stuck on hands.  Director Eric Jon Kurland smartly plays it straight, letting the concept carry the humor.  9 min

 

The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello (2005)

In a world of iron dirigibles and steam powered computers, Jasper Morello, a disgraced aerial navigator, flees his plague-ridden home on a desperate voyage to redeem himself.  A beautifully animated work related to H.P. Lovecraft as well as adventure stories from the 30s and 40s.  26 min  (Full Review)

 

Rejected (2000)

The second film on this list by stick-figure maestro Don Hertzfedt, Rejected is even stranger than Billy's Balloon.  It claims to be a collection of animated advertisements that he drew while having a mental breakdown.  All were rejected, and it's not hard to see why.  9 min  2001 Academy Award nominee.

 

Rockfish (2003)

Essentially The Old Man and The Sea meets Star Wars, with a man and his pet fishing on a distant planet, Rockfish is a wonder of 3-D computer animation.  While the story is fun and the characters are quite developed for a dialog-free "fishing" Short, it is the look of the film that wows.  9 min

 

Valley of Gwombi (2005)

A time machine malfunction has left Professor Marshall Gwombi and his two children, Wes and Polly, stranded in a mysterious jungle filled with hungry dinosaurs! Professor Gwombi says dinosaurs don't eat people, and father is ALWAYS right...isn't he?  A claymation Short, Valley of Gwombi succeeds with the one essential for a comedy—it's funny.  6 min