The Crunch Bird

I don't understand what I just watched! Or how it won an Oscar.

The animation was crude, even cruder than animation done decades ago, and didn't really add anything.

The story was poor. The humour stale. The voice acting limited.

Last week, the Cartoon Brew site mentioned the passing of one Ted Petok. He was an animator whose works appeared on "Seseme Street" and "The Electric Company" during the '70s. CB linked from YouTube Mr. Petok's Oscar-winning short whose title is up above as tribute. It's only a couple of minutes long. In this one, a lady is searching for a gift for her husband. She comes to a pet shop. She doesn't think her husband would want a dog or cat. She decides to get him a "crunch bird" even though the shop proprietor doesn't think that's a good idea. That's all I'll mention of what appears and just say I found this quite funny and maybe even a little hilarious for such a limited time animated short. Does it really deserve the Academy Award? Well, I've yet to watch what else was nominated that year so I don't know. But it was certainly entertaining for what it was. Anyway, when Petok received his award he said, in a paraphrase of the last line from this short, "Crunch Bird, my Oscar". Rest in peace, Ted.

Yep it's true! The first thing you do after watching is scratch your head and ask yourself "how did THIS win an Oscar"? Then You chuckle and realise it doesn't matter and this is a funny short. Worth watching! And what else really matters huh?

I'm in agreement with rnigma-1 from down south that THE CRUNCH BIRD definitely did not deserve to win the Oscar for Best Animated Short in 1972, though I wouldn't rate this film a 1--though perhaps my 5 is a bit generous. One problem is that the cartoon isn't particularly well animated and has very garish colors. The other is that the cartoon is a rather crude joke that 7th graders might find funny, but most anyone older that that won't. It's really sad that this insignificant film won, as one of the runners up (THE SELFISH GIANT) is head and shoulders better. Unlike the crude and rather stupid CRUNCH BIRD, THE SELFISH GIANT has a wonderful message, excellent animation and a depth to it. When seen today by sane people, it's obvious that THE CRUNCH BIRD is an inferior film and the Academy should have been embarrassed at picking the winner that year. I don't even think THE CRUNCH BIRD should have been nominated--let alone win. A super example of an over-rated film. Since they gave THE CRUNCH BIRD an Oscar, perhaps Pauley Shore will one day win the Best Actor Oscar!!!

Yes, it's based on a joke. (Hey, it's a SHORT animation film, right?) Yeah, it's from 1971, with 1971 technology, audio, acting, drawing, and dialog.

Still, it was humorous in its day.

As a theater manager in the mid-70s, I sometimes showed this prior to our main features (back before you PAID to see ADVERTISING on the big screen) and the audience always roared.

I'm not so harsh on this as some.... in those days we definitely needed a big laugh to escape the real world, even if for only a few minutes.

Give Crunch Bird a fair shake for what it is... a short piece of fluff that entertained the audiences of the day.

P.S. I can't speak to the points regarding the Academy selection, not having seen (or having seen but not remembered) the other contenders.