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‘2024 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Animation’ Review: Toon Artists Find Poetic Solutions to Serious Topics
The five Oscar Animated Short finalists represent creative treatments of heavy issues, addressing everything from capital punishment to sexual abuse.
Two soldiers on opposite sides of battle play an implausible game of chess, communicating each move via carrier pigeon in “ War Is Over: Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko.” Hatched by Sean Ono Lennon as a novel way to deliver his parents’ message, this glossy computer-generated short looks far more polished than the competition, but makes hardly any sense. Co-directors Karni Arieli and Saul Freed’s photoreal, computer-generated “Wild Summon” traces the life cycle of a female salmon, depicted not as a fish but a creepy humanlike water creature with bloated lips and tiny diving mask. Winking at what it’s like to feel out of step with the latest trends, “I’m Hip” is set to a jazzy old parody song by Dave Frishberg and Bob Dorough, as a cool cat sporting indoor shades and a pork pie hat tries to convince the world he’s still got it.
Or read this on Variety
