The Cathedral

The first time I ever saw The Cathedral, I was sitting in Film class in high school. It was the only movie all year that I didn't want to end. It held my attention, from the beginning to the end. In fact I didn't even notice that I didn't blink until my contacts blurred over. The computer animation is just stunning, the soundtrack is beautiful, and the story is brilliant; there can be so many different interpretations. Once I saw The Cathedral, I wanted to watch it again and again. If you get a chance to see this film definitely see it, see what you think it means. You'll definitely have fun trying to figure out the meaning of it all.

Anyone who's seen the new Star Wars movies, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, The Matrix Reloaded and other heavy-CGI films can attest that the animation rarely conveys scope or true majesty: when you can tell something is fake, it's hard to let it take your breath away. However, The Cathedral is truly the first CGI I've seen that's left me in awe. The plot is elegantly simple, in fact, everything about this movie is elegant, beautiful and haunting. This is what CGI should be. Either this or Das Rad deserved to win the Oscar for best Animated Short.

A computer graphic movie as never made before. Not a very complicated story, no dialogues, but the visual effect is really stunning. Based on Polish science-fiction short story by Jacek Dukaj, it is a masterpiece of computer-generated film art. Therefore, the Academy Award nomination is not a surprise.

maybe, its profound simplicity is the basic motif for the fascination . than, the music. not the last, CGI. not the last because, in many cases, technology is the first, against the story. in this case, it is the clothes of a seductive - bitter story about the price of knowledge, about the force of place who transforms the visitor in part of it. all is great and touching and impressive in this short film. the tension and the memories about old fairy tales, the grace and the revelation. so, a gem.

Cathedral, The (2003)

*** (out of 4)

Strange but effective animated short has an explorer going into a broken down cathedral and getting sent on a journey through it. This is a somewhat hard film to judge because on one hand some of the visuals are really amazing but on the other hand I couldn't help but feel left out of the actual "story" and in many ways it seemed like a deleted scene from a video game. Those who mainly wanting to see visuals are really going to love this thing because some of them will have your jaw on the floor. The highlight of the film for me was near the end when the explorer is near the end of his voyage and the sun begins to come out. How this lights everything up made for a very memorable sequence. The film contains no dialogue so everything we take away from the film comes from the visual stance and for the most part it keeps us entertained. I think a little story would have made the movie a tad bit better.