The Animation and Other Wonders program of the World of Comedy Film Festival, on this weekend, was full of laughs and oddities on a sunny day.
Shaun the Sheep: Double Trouble, Two’s Company, Ewe’ve Been Framed and In the Dog House — Shaun the Sheep is a stop-motion animation show in the style of Wallace and Gromit. There were four very charming shorts from this series peppered throughout the program. In the first, Double Trouble, Shaun the Sheep finds some vegetables that resemble the farmer. He puts them on and raids the house – hilarity ensues. In Two’s Company, a very pretty lady sheep falls off a truck. While Bitzer, the sheepdog, runs off to tell the driver he has lost one of his herd, Shaun is busily falling in love. A very sweet short with some great laughs and a neat gag at the end. Ewe’ve Been Framed finds the farmer with smashed glasses, thanks to a joke played by Shaun. The joke turns out to be on our little sheep friend when Shaun and Bitzer must help him do all his chores for the day. This was a funny short that also had a sweet ending. It gave the viewer an insight into the community on the farm. Excellent for an animated short that has almost no verbalization. Last, but not least, In the Dog House built on that sense of community when the farmer drives over Bitzer’s doghouse and then builds him a terrible replacement. Shaun takes it upon himself to enlist the rest of the farm to make sure their trusty friend has a good place to sleep.
The Shaun the Sheep shorts were initially my least favorite part of the shorts program, since they didn’t seem to quite fit with the overall tone of the program, but once I had a little while to reflect on it, I realized that they were some of my favorites of the day.
Lovesick Fool — A very interesting short about a man who seems to be unlucky in love. Sadly, his luck seems to come from his own inability to relate to the other sex. He is awkward and misinterprets the situation. A fun short of mixed media and excellent sound editing, I recommend this short as a funny look at one man’s experience of trying to find someone to go out with him, let alone love.
FOT – The Next Big Thing — This is a story of one of those guys with British accents who is always grandstanding and making themselves seem better than everyone else, when really everyone just wishes they would stop talking. It was very well done and the animation was excellent, but the short fully succeeded in its pursuit of annoying the snot out of me. At first it was amusing, then it was a little annoying, then it was unpleasant. In short (no pun intended!), it’s a great short that achieves exactly what it sets out to do.
Ant & Len — Odd, but funny, little short about two alien-type creatures who are… simple. The red one tries to eat his foot and succeeds, while the blueish green one has to entice him back out of his implosion by enticing him with (paper) boobs. This is a very short short, only a minute and forty-five seconds, but it was a very funny and endearing. I would totally watch more of these shorts and I recommend trying to find this one.
Daisy at the Beach — Cute short about a hippo at the beach who can’t manage on her hammock. Once she manages it, she discovers a different problem. Reminiscent of early Pixar.
There Once Was — This was an incredible set of three shorts in mixed media. These were beautiful and amusing shorts about life’s little truths. Find these somewhere, anywhere, since this is the kind of short where you’re doing yourself a disservice not seeing. So awesome!
Western Spaghetti — If the last short wasn’t incredible enough, this short completely blew me away — and garnered more than a few laughs from the audience. This is a stop-motion short about making spaghetti with “western” style objects. Rubick’s Cubes are cut into smaller pieces. Post-its as butter. Pick up sticks and rubber bands. Brilliant, brilliant short. Go to the interwebs and find it right now.
Horn Dog — A Bill Plympton short about a dog who can’t let himself fall in love because every time he gets close he imagines the worst. What he doesn’t realize is that he’s his own worst enemy. Bill Plympton never does bad work, so check this one out when you can. Besides, he very clearly understands the mind of the small dog.
Audition — A monkey auditions for Hamlet. another short, short but one well worth seeing. This one still makes me giggle when I think about it.
Cat Eats Dog – This is a short about a professor who gets sucked into going to try to find a dog for a sexy student who offers “anything” to the man who can get her “little dog” back, but doesn’t realize he’s likely to find ruin before the dog. This one didn’t really speak to me, but it doesn’t mean it’s not your cup of tea.
King Jeff — This was my favorite of the lot (although Western Speaghetti runs a very, very close second). King Jeff is a man who believes that he is a king. I mean he lives it. Through his eyes, a grimy city is a beautiful kingdom filled with stone towers and damsels in distress. While out at his local toy store (weapons dealer, blacksmith, whatever King Jeff believes he is) Jeff runs into his arch nemesis. A battle ensues, but the winner is not who you would expect. This short is quaint and enjoyable because it never wavers from the belief that every thing Jeff sees is true and, in doing so, makes it utterly ridiculous without ever making fun of Jeff himself. An excellent film for the geek in us all.
Zero Gravity — This was an interesting short. I think my expectations of it held me back from truly enjoying it in the moment because it was in a comedy festival. On the one hand, it’s certainly absurd. On the other hand, it’s a very deeply sweet short about the simple things in life. After his mother dies, Toniet hides in the house for many, many days. Eventually having to venture out for food he is brought into the confidences of a secret society of housewives who are the powers behind the world. Despite all of this, our grief stricken central character just wants some fish stew, not world domination. I would check this short out because it’s certainly beautiful, but dno’t expect comedy. Just go in with a blank slate and you’ll enjoy it.
Robots — The only local short in the bunch. Toronto represent! Two robots whose sole purpose is to sort screws begin to go a little off program. This short film came out of a Second City sketch. Director Ryan Keller has been working with the cast of Second City to create some short films that are a showcase for the incredible work they do, but also maintain the intention of the original sketch. This short reminded me of old Saturday Night Live — back in the days of Gilda radner, Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd and the rest of the gang. I’m not sure that’s what they were going for, but it sure was close. Funny and sweet the short really hit home with the audience.
All in all the Animation and Other Wonders program at World of Comedy Film Festival was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon — even if the sun seemed more enticing.
