2025 Oscar Picks Deep Dive: Animated Short Film
A delightful deck of 5 films under 40 minutes each!
As detailed in my most-recent post, I watched all 15 short films nominated for an Academy Award this year at Row House Cinemas and presented by Shorts.TV. I’m writing my rankings and Oscar predictions here. No, they’re not all rated R (scandal!). Yes, they’re all amazing (not a scandal!). Hopefully, this gives you insight into some excellent films, how to see some of them, and have a basic knowledge base when you watch the Oscars on March 2.
A reminder that I’m hosting a live chat during the Oscars on Substack and my Oscar picks go out later this week. Subscribe and join the fun!
My last post was about Documentary Short Films. My next post is about Live Action Short Films. Today, we dive into five Animated Short Films. While the other two categories had their thematic and tonal outliers, I’d say the Animated Short Films has the most variety of the three categories. Not only is the filmmaking style different (we get stop motion, 3D CGI, and computer animation in a style that recalls traditional cel animation, and yes, even a touch of live action human being thrown in for good measure, similar to Fred Willard’s appearance in Wall-E), we have a wide variety of theme, tone, and type of protagonist.
I’m writing these in the order I saw them. We’ve covered Documentary Short Film and next comes Live Action Short Film. Today, let’s dive into Animated Short Film.
All five are great films, and here they are in my ranked order, fifth to first:
And the Best Animated Short Film Nominees are…
Wander to Wonder | Nina Gantz, 14 min., Netherlands / Belgium / France / UK, English
Many who grew up in the videotape era of the late 1970s and 1980s recall TV shows that used blue screen (before green screen was the thing) to combine shots into one. In children’s programming, this was often to combine a world with ordinary humans in one shot with people in costumes on a set depicting a tiny, fantastic world. But what if the people in costumes weren’t regular humans? What if they were tiny people and the fantastic world was actual size? That’s the premise of Wander to Wonder.
Diminutive Mary, Billybud, and Fumbleton are 1’ tall people who were once children’s TV stars, now left alone to fend for themselves in a makeshift home studio. They overcome the monotony of their current life by reliving their former glory, all while having to weather the dangers of being left on their own. The film could be called bleak and tragic if we didn’t get to feel the hope of this trio, particularly Mary. We witness them attempt to make life more than just about surviving.
Not everyone has been in such desperate circumstances. Even my worse days weren’t about survival. Still, I was moved by this abandoned family in their pursuit to push through their trauma. The stop motion animation is lovely, and the real-world items that populate the scenes were so fun to see, especially a huge stack of VHS tapes next to the last working VCR in England. This is the saddest film of the bunch, with perhaps the most ambiguous ending.
At the screening, a brief message came up saying this may not be suitable for people under 14. People chuckled and squirmed a little when that happened because none of us saw that coming. What was the big deal? Billybud goes Winnie the Pooh for a bit and you can see his genitals. Maybe I’m just one of those young whippersnappers, but I’m not sure how much offense one should take from 30 seconds of a 1’-tall man’s stop-motion animated penis.
At the time of this writing, you can buy or rent this 14-minute short film. It may appear later on its official website. Watch a trailer here:
Beautiful Men | Nicolas Keppens, 18 min., Belgium / France / Netherlands, Flemish, Dutch, Turkish, and English
Friendship is at the heart of Beautiful Men. The trio of Steven, Koen, and Bart have traveled a long way to each get a hair transplant, only to learn Steven mistakenly booked only one appointment, not three. As they await their fateful day, we see them contemplate life, their relationships, and beauty, all with a little triangulation along the way.
It’s a patiently-paced film and very quiet, with an opportunity to watch these middle age men just… be. Each has a peaceful mixture of sadness and resolve, the sort of presence that lets you believe they’ve all had their fair share of mileage on the road of life. While it’s sometimes funny and charming, the film’s sadness is always present, though the ending left me smiling. In another year, I think this would take home the top prize.
And heads up: we get even more stop-motion animated penis this time, as Bart often wanders his private hotel room in the nude. Which as we all know, nobody ever does ever. Curious? Well, this may or may not be in the trailer below. (Okay. This may.)
At the time of this writing, there isn’t yet a way to buy, rent, or livestream this 18-minute short film. Watch a trailer here:
Yuck! / Beurk! | Loïc Espuche, 13 min., France, French
A group of kids, both young and those just on the brink of puberty, sneak around their communal campsite, spying on boring, ordinary adults who kiss, only to utter “Yuck!” at the thought. Only… one pair wouldn’t mind kissing one another!
This sweet story is about the delicate bridge between childhood and adulthood. A consensual first kiss can be a fragile event. The anticipation, the expectations, the newfound freedoms, the wonder, the sparkle (in this case, literally). I know not everyone had an innocent bridge, nor that Yuck! depicts the crossing of that bridge perfectly. I will say the film perhaps offers a glimpse somewhere between ideal and reality that lives in the realm of fantasy. In that, escapist entertainment can still speak well of important things.
What a lovely journey these characters take from a mob of Yuck-yelling kids to embracing their revised feelings. I adored the sparkly red lip effect to depict people’s feelings. If only real life were so clear! While it wasn’t my favorite of these 5 short films, I do think this has a strong chance of taking home Oscar gold.
At the time of this writing, you can buy or rent this 13-minute short film. It may appear later on its official website. Watch a trailer here:
In the Shadow of the Cypress / Dar saaye sarv | Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani, 20 min., Iran, no dialogue
A woman cares for her ailing father in a small beachside cottage in the shadow of their wrecked ship, the Cypress. It is a looming reminder of a traumatic past, one that haunts through PTSD that, as in life, manifests in terrifying, surprising, and unpleasant ways.
To save themselves, they try to save a beached whale. Of course, the whale is a metaphor for all that has come between them: the loss, the guilt, the brokenness. We get glimpses of a tragic, robbing incident in the past. We get a deep dive into their relationship in the present. We get hope for their future and yeah, that’s even with what I would call the most-overtly ambiguous ending of these five short films.
In a film that is free of dialogue, In the Shadow of the Cypress lets us into the hearts of this woman and her father through looks, actions, and figurative imagery. One of my biggest complaints about any story - especially movies - is when people withhold information instead of talking to each other. My spouse says relax, that’s what it’s like in real life. She’s right. And there are movies that do that well, but often it is to pad out the story and get the runtime to 90 minutes and when it shows, I groan. That this film shows two people communicating constantly through everything but words over its brief 20 minutes and I feel strongly connected says a great deal about its writing, animation style, and directing.
At the time of this writing, you can rent this 20-minute short film. Watch a trailer here:
Magic Candies | Daisuke Nishio, 21 min., Japan, Japanese
What if you could talk to your dog? Or your passed away grandmother? Or your couch? That’s the cover in Magic Candies which is really about this: What if you could listen to others’ speak their truth in ways that enhance your life?
One of the joys of this film is how the magic candies that Dong-Dong eats and which grant him the power to hear objects, animals, and people speak is that they aren’t all expected. A film more intent on being “weighty” would make all 5 candies connect him to entities of a more grandiose scale. Ancestors, perhaps, or a great mountain or cultural artifact. Instead, it all starts with a couch saying hey, would you please take this remote control out of my cushions? It’s rather annoying.
I think the more “mundane” conversations are important to giving the more “meaningful” conversations the weight they deserve in Magic Candies. I was especially moved by the “I love you” conversation and Dong-Dong’s physical response. It left me in tears, and it made me think about how I do - and could do better - at conveying “I love you” to others. I’ve thought about that moment every day since seeing the film.
At the time of this writing, there isn’t yet a way to buy, rent, or livestream this 21-minute short film. It may appear later on its official website. Watch a trailer here:
Will Win: Yuck!
I believe Yuck! has the best chance to win the Oscar. Its caring and sweet portrayal of children entering a new chapter in life can leave you with a big smile on your face. Plus, it’s well-made, a simple animation that is both modern and vintage in my eyes, and its 13-minute runtime keeps it simple and effective. All of that will, I believe, connect with the most voters.
Should Win: Magic Candies
And yet, it was the wonder and variety of connections Dong-Dong made in Magic Candies that makes this film the big winner for me. As I wrote above, the “I love you” conversation was so, so, so well-done. I encourage every parent who wants to be a better parent to see this. Strike that. I encourage every person who wants to be a better person to see this. Listening to one another may save the world!
Your turn!
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