Close Encounters of the Mini Kind

There are plenty more or less serious episodes in this buffet of animations. Some more cute, others artful, depthful, and then there is this. A simple few minute piece of dumb fun.-has nobody heard of a palate cleanser?

Some of the more serious episodes I'd easily say are too serious, or maybe more accurately take themselves 'too seriously'. Playing-out as if they think they're cleverest thing as I sit there, seeing each plot development coming a mile away. An almost distasteful pretension that the story is this microcosm of genius when to me, many are very explicitly 'tech demos' or demonstrations of an art team and far less anything of narrative substance. I'd probably edit the hell out of half these things specifically when it comes to the story direction, given the chance.

I love these lil people episodes exactly for what they are: that bit of fun. And I could even imagine it as a nice lil silly series of its own. If nothing else, I'm content to see one of these nestled between tech demos playing-out like they think they're among the most mysterious or smartest bits of media ever made. This itself is it own tiny transgression, one artful mediums need, before everyone is stuck with their noses up each others bums, smelling their own farts all day.

I give this a 2 because the technical implementation is flawless, so if you watch it as a tech demo for a specific animation technique, it is okay.

But if you try to consume it as entertainment, it is an incredibly stupid episode. Love, Death and Robots has dome quite hilarious comic relief episodes, but this particular entry just tries really hard to be funny but has the humor of a 6-year-old kid.

Last season's mini zombie apocalypse was at least a bit creative - even though that episode was not among my favorites either -, this is just Happy Tree Friends with mini figures and annoying high pitched voices.

I quite enjoyed "Night of the Mini Dead" from Season 3, but what made that episode so good was its uniqueness. I had never seen anything exactly like it before, and it truly subverted my expectations. "Close Encounters of the Mini Kind" is more of the same, except the humor has managed to get even cruder. The opening was funny enough, but not once did I truly chuckle. I suppose others may enjoy its humor, but it wasn't for me.

Now, as a piece of entertainment, this episode fulfills its purpose. It's quirky, a feast for the eyes, and keeps you attached to the screen. From a visual standpoint, this episode is excellent. I adore the animation style of these "mini" episodes, and even with the subpar plot, this episode managed to be engaging. Sound design and cinematography were excellent, and keeping its runtime short and sweet was an excellent idea.

I liked the episode, they kept the context simple and without any major twists, but it was consistent with the episodes of the series up until then.

The episode portrays the end of the world with aliens invading the planet of the minis and their possible reaction, with a comical ending, without many surprises, but I still like the simple and bold style of the series that has a lot of spirit and differentiation from the other episodes of the series, so I give this episode an 8.

That way, I like the universe of the minis, and I even believe that they deserve an independent series to show the development of their little world.

In a tiny, squeaky universe, friendly aliens land on Earth, are ill-treated, and things escalate to all-out war cumulating in an existential threat to the very fabric space-time itself. A diminutive Earth was overrun by miniature undead in season 3's 'Night of the Mini Dead' (S03E04) and this has much the same fun-size aesthetic and silly charm. Being puny allows for a number of rude sight-gags (including some inappropriate cow-oitis) as there is insufficient resolution for indignation. The highly kinetic saga of microscopic interspecific war is fun in a silly way and a big improvement over the season's blah opener (the Red Hot Chili Puppets).