Oktapodi

Like last year, I went to a special showing of the Oscar-nominated animated short films. However, unlike last year, in addition to the nominees, several "commended films" were also shown. In this review I'll make my predictions, though if it's anything like last year's choices, I'll probably once again pick the wrong shorts as my favorite for the award.

OKTAPODI is a cute computer generated film about two octopi who are in love. However, when the lady octopus is taken for someone's dinner, the male responds in super-hero fashion to rescue her. So, he goes bouncing about the streets of what appears to be Greece--chasing the delivery truck that has his mate.

Oddly, while this film is lovely to look at and sweet, it also is only about three minutes long--making it incredibly short to receive the Oscar nomination. Because of this, the great similarity of the work to a typical Pixar or Dreamworks film and the slightness of the plot, this film seems very, very unlikely to win the award. I enjoyed the film but by the time I was starting to really get into the film it was over!! I would really love to see what this French studio could do given a longer format, as they are very talented and clever.

UPDATE: LA MAISON EN PETITS CUBES was the winner this year. Not surprisingly, I got this one wrong but at least saw the film as a strong contender.

According to "L'Agence Du Court Métrage"-a professional organization which looks after everything related to short films in France, animated shorts have an average duration of 10 minutes. If one were to judge 'Oktapodi' from that yardstick, one would be able to conclude that for an animation film,2 minutes and 25 seconds is not at all an ideal run time as not much can be conveyed in such a short duration. This aspect has been taken as a challenge by a team of animation directors at 'Les Gobelins' which has made an impressive animation film about the efforts made by two Octopi to prevent their separation at the hands of a human being and a bird.They are so determined in their quest to live together that they use all means at their disposal to fight against their rivals. The result is revealed to viewers in the form of Oktapodi-a very short animation film which does not waste any time to convey its message. It does that by coming straight to the point. The action is really fast in 'Oktapodi' and it is aided by good animation.It is rather curious to know that this film does not limit itself to children-a major audience segment for animation films. Anybody who is interested in good cinema with a penchant for a good story can watch and enjoy it.

a small animation about love.not great, far to be memorable , but amusing, nice, lovely.a sort of gem without great ambitions but useful for few moments of free time. action, feelings and high perseverance. and the Greek air. all in the music sauce. it is one of the films who seduce. not exactly for story itself but for the grace of details, for rhythm and for crazy run. for the remember of old images and for unconventional subject. a fresh air. more about Greek spirit than the octopus love. an interesting work , not perfect but good for the manner to use the short time for present the story. so, a not bad choice for fun.

Nicely fit with a violin playing on the background; Oktapodi offers a fast paced, very well crafted short animation. It has the style of the famous "Coyote & Road Runner series" of Warner Bros:

1/ Full throttle in action and humour 2/ No dialogue based script 3/ Excellent coordination between character movements, voice-overs and sound effects 4/ Follows the beats and notes of the playing instruments to transform action into humour

Oscar nomination is very well worthy. In my opinion, this could've been won the Oscar if:

1/ Octopuses haven't been urged on like dolphins jumping out of water or like grasshoppers hopping between locations 2/ Octopuses could've been more real-like, more ugly, more dirty, more clammy, more thick-skinned 3/ The rat race could've been more outlasting

Viewable by all ages -especially children- , watchable on Youtube and downloadable on KickYoutube; Oktapodi is noteworthy.

So this was an oscar nominee. But it's very unlike other oscar nominated shorts I know about. It is not a serious film. It's just that it is enjoyable.

I like it because it's really well made. The stunts were more realistic than full length action films. But the scenes of octopodes jumping from one pool to another, a bit too over the top.

Best thing about it is it's length. It's very short(only two minutes long). There is not a single second of time waste. Anyway, it's a good film but I doubt if I am going to remember it for a long time.