Rejected

"Rejected" is a brilliant animated digression which is understated as it pertains to the animation, but a three ring circus that is both genius and insane with it's bizarre yet exponentially hilarious dialogue. The soundtrack is also ecclectic yet highly effective. This short receives my strongest rec. It is an aquired taste, but worthy of your mental digestion.... and with a spartan but effective runtime what do you have to lose? "My spoon is too big".... drawing with his left hand.... the instability of his cartoon world.... and the deleted seqeunce are classic.

"Rejected" (2000) = A (add + for animation fans)

This movie is not for those without a sense of humour. If you like crazy, off the wall stuff, and know what "funny" means, you will love it. Ignore all other comments to the contrary.

From the same guy that brought us "Billy's Balloon" (the cartoon where the poor kid is being tormented by his homicidal balloon and "Ah L'amour" (where a guy is viciously torn apart by women he meets) comes "Rejected", perhaps one of the most twisted pieces of animation ever captured on film.

The end result is connection of absolutely bizarre stick-figure animated vignettes that make very little sense, although they are absolutely hilarious to watch. Through the course of the film, they progressively make less and less sense, until the animated world literally falls apart.

A huge step-up from his previous works, Dan Hertzfeldt's "Rejected" is stylistically simple, although very expressive and a huge technical achievement. And it's very, very funny. You thought the kid getting abused by his balloon in "Billy's Balloon" was funny? Wait until you see what happens when a guy wearing a normal hat walks into a room with a sign that says "Funny Hats Only."

I don't know what Buff-17 was talking about when he submitted his review of the movie... Perhaps he had a cup of tea, and sat alone in his house with darkened lights to watch it in full surround sound...

Buff, I think you were simply looking a bit too deep.

I saw this film for the first time at Spike and Mike's film festival with a group of my friends. You aren't missing any jokes, buff - in fact, you are looking so hard you are missing the point. It is funny because it's so incredibly ridiculous.. and original.

Now then, this film is the funniest animation of all time. I laughed myself to tears (never happened before) watching the previous work, "Billy's Balloon," but this one.. by the end, I could not see the theatre screen. I was having trouble breathing.

And no, I'm not one of those annoying theatre types that bellow at the screen any time a fart joke is spoken.

This truly is an amazingly funny movie. The whole theatre was in uproar throughout most of the film. If you enjoy a good laugh, then this is a MUST SEE MOVIE.

May be a Don Hertzfeldt animated short is not really your taste. The first experience I had with the animator was 'Billy's Balloon' which is very sadistic, it shows balloons attacking children, but it's also one of the funniest shorts I have seen. 'Rejected' is less sadistic, but a lot more disturbing; if you didn't like 'Billy's Balloon' or other Hertzfeldt-work you will not like this one either.

It starts with showing some commercials the animator has made. They are disturbing, violent and therefore rejected by the people who gave him the assignment. All the rejections lead up to a breakdown the animator has, something we see in a brilliant piece of animation. Telling you more about the story we see would spoil things for you.

The animation itself is terrific. It has some very simple looking things in it, the way 'Billy's Balloon' was animated, but the "breakdown"-part I mentioned above together with some other special effect sequences look amazing. The way the whole thing is presented is pretty inventive as well. Even the classical music is perfectly chosen. Another great short from animator Don Hertzfeldt.