Stubble Trouble

This is really weird. So far on IMDb, three people have reviewed this short cartoon--two giving it a score of 10 and one giving it a 1!! This really makes no sense at all and I think the truth lies somewhere in between (though a lot closer to 10).

Because the film was nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for 2002, the score of 1 does seem silly. While they were right that this film didn't break as much new ground as some of the other nominees, it was extremely funny and that should count for something other than a 1! However, given that STUBBLE TROUBLE didn't win (the winner was the excellent Pixar film, FOR THE BIRDS), it seems likely that 10s are a bit too generous--especially since I don't even think STUBBLE TROUBLE was the second best film that made the cut (that would be STRANGE INVADERS).

So what you have is a cel shaded cartoon with a cute plot, excellent animation and only so-so music (bongos). It's funny, cute and worth a look--but a 10? Not quite.

I have to say I wasn't expecting much from a commercial animation house that makes Rabbits dancing around cereal bowls for a living, but this short was really cool. (I guess they have the Trix) To tell the story of a cave dude with a beard on Viagra, this movie utilized some type of texture effect that made the whole piece look like it was painted on rocks like cave drawings. In this day of lets-just-work-on-"reality" animation its nice to see someone using new technology to try new approaches to style. It was a funny little short that had a cute punch line and it didn't go on too long. Since the independent production company that produced Stubble Trouble,Calabash, isn't on the Exchange, I doubt if it will win Oscar.

After seeing this film at a recent screening of Oscar-nominated shorts in Toronto, I was perplexed by why this film was even nominated in the first place. It doesn't break any new ground in terms of animation technique (at least the dismal "Fifty Percent Grey" is impressively rendered), and the story is lame and derivative. Stylistically, it comes across as a crude melange of the "B.C." comic strip and "The Flinstones" (he even goes so far as to directly copy the Fred sliding down the tail of a Brontasaurus routine). This is a complete waste of time, and it only goes to prove how subjective and, dare I say, political, the Academy Award nomination process truly is.

This short is truly underrated. Really clever and beautiful animation, the way it looks projected onto a rock face.

Love the tension building drums. Great comedy and amazing little twist.

I love Stubble Trouble, quite simply. It has that wonderfully bouncy character animation that 3d computer stuff cannot touch simply because of how 3d is done. The style of it is very cool, too. It has that rough hewn look, like it was scribbled on a cave wall (which is very appropriate). As for the story, its cute. Its not exactly Shakespeare, but neither was For the Birds, the short that that won the award. And rarely shorts are very complex. They have about 5 minutes to tell a story; if they manage to make you care about the character in that amount of time, they have done a very good job.

In short, if you can find this short, watch it.