Save Ralph

Lasting less than 4 minutes, this perfect blend of the lighthearted and the disturbing made me squirm in a way I definitely did not expect (if you've seen it, you know exactly what scene I'm talking about).

I have the feeling there's an abundance of shabby PETA videos and extremely cheesy films dealing with this topic, only to inadvertently do disservice to the topics they tackle and the art of cinema, ultimately disrespecting the intelligence of the more discerning audience.

But I can confidently say that Save Ralph, the newest film made with the collaboration of Humane Society International, is not one of them, and I'll be positively gobsmacked if this can be expanded into a full-length feature film, even if it would take a few more years.

In particular, the puppet and set designer extraordinaire Andy Gent (well-known for his work as chief animator on Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' and head of puppet department on 'Isle of Dogs') knocked it out of the park here. During the short film's panel discussion, he described his stop-motion animation (which I regard as magnificently detailed eye-candy) for this film as a "labour of love". I mean, the production crew poured an entire year of hard work into the animation. What's not to admire about this film? I'm just glad that it turned out to be good including its animation.

I've never reviewed anything on here before but this is worth the effort. Short and not so sweet but hits with such a hard message and is quite difficult viewing given the subject matter. We immediately went through products in our home and threw any away that would do this to animals it affected us that much, amazing that such a short video can impact like this and I encourage more to see it and have it take effect.

So well done by everyone involved. An absolute must see!!

High production quality, and it sends the message.

Only Waititi's ironic humour accompanied with a hint of meta along with his eccentric, poignant style can render a 4-minute short film about the cruelty test animals undergo packing such an emotional wallop. Nearly flinched at some moments. Better be a wake-up call!