ThiefHott Too much of everything

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

MartinHafer This was a wonderful film visually--with an artistry and style that were truly unique. The machines and people are created in an unusual fashion--using mostly sepia tones and blacks as well as never showing details of the people's faces. Instead, the people are very reminiscent of Asian shadow puppets. You really just need to see it to understand how unusual this all looks--but it sure is very striking.The story takes place in an alternate reality--a planet where steam-powered flying machines are common. Additionally, there is a bizarre plague breaking out and this, combined with the shadows and colors, creates a truly dark story. Making it worse, the story itself if very cold and creepy--truly macabre.If you can get past how weird and disturbing it all is, then you'll probably love this film. I didn't particularly enjoy all the death, but because of the artistry and vision I still strongly recommend it to viewers with a relatively open mind.This film, by the way, is very similar in spirit to another animated short, THE PERIWIG-MAKER (1999)--both having a theme that revolves around plague and both films are amazingly beautiful but dark.

bob the moo In a Victorian world of steam driven air ships Jasper Morello is an aerial navigator haunted by a mistake he once made that caused the death of one of his crew. He leaves his home with his wife ill with the fatal plague sweeping the country and joins a mission with Doctor Belgon seeking a possible remedy for the disease but also redemption of his soul. The mission looks like it will be a success but with Belgon maddened with his discovery, Morello must decide if the terrible price is worth paying.Nominated for an Oscar, this animated short is a great piece of work. The plot has elements of old Jules Verne adventures in the design but it is seeped in a wonderfully dark, Gothic air that runs from the animation through the music into the story and characters. Those not used to short films might moan at how the plot moves quickly and how it is quite superficial. These are fair comment but can be forgiven by the nature of this film, besides the film has much to cover minor issues. The story is engaging and well told with tragic characters complimenting the dark tone. Edgerton makes a great lead character and brings out a lot with his voice. Likewise Bakaitis is strong as the doctor while the support cast fill in the rest of the characters.The animation makes this film though. Delivered mainly in 2 dimensional shadows, the design is impressive and captures the Gothic atmosphere just right. It is full of imagination and is beautifully dark to watch. Overall then a very strong and enjoyable short film. Gothic, dark and visually impressive with a solid narrative it is just a shame that the nomination did not get the film more exposure and a bigger audience.

Polaris_DiB I love this because I feel, to a degree, that this is the best argument for what animation is for: creating an entire unique world that no amount of special effects and actors could bring out in a live-action movie (how close were the Star Wars prequels to being animation anyway?).It's one of those fantastic child imaginations that go into worlds anachronistic and improbable, one that has airships powered by coal and dusty sultry air with islands floating amidst them, that have no real basis in real physical being but still has scientists and its own set of rules.The imagination is very richly animated in a weird sort of 3-D/2-D way, where the majority of the world definitely has an optical illusion of three dimensions but the characters are simply silhouettes constantly moving in two variable directions. It's pretty unique and at first it's hard to distinguish just what kind of animation it is... if it's just the silhouettes shot on cells of paintings, if there's CGI, if the backgrounds are thus animated. It becomes pretty clear from a lot of the movements that it is, actually, CGI, but still, it's very rich and painterly. It's a definite argument to the artistry of animation that can be created when involving a lot of creative approaches to a time-consuming and difficult field.My only problem with it is that it's about as anticlimactic as any other surviver-journal story. We spend our entire times following a narrator who eventually throws it up in the air over whether he even survives or succeeds on his adventure. It's an interesting cliffhanger... maybe the first time you're introduced to such a story. But it gets tiresome after a while and one has to really question if it's worth it to really bother sometimes.--PolarisDiB

kerecsen This flick has just the perfect blend of experimental ideas, an interesting story and meticulous animation work. The creators opted to use a 3D-flattened-to-silhouette animation technique, which is quite unique and hard to describe. Suffice to say that it works well to emphasize the mood of the story. Oh, and it also looks absolutely stunning...Jasper Morello is a navigator on an airship, who gets a chance to help save his wife, as well as humanity from a plague, by venturing to unknown territory. His Verne-like trip takes him to strange lands and strange creatures...I don't want to give too much away, so I'll just say that you should go check it out (or at least the trailer at www.jaspermorello.com).