UWM contributor and cinephile John Fennimore attended the Milwaukee Film Festival’s annual Kids Shorts program. This year’s shorts range from beautiful and inspirational like “The Dam Keeper” by Robert Kondo and Daisuke Tsutsumito to head-scratching, much like the film “Monster Symphony” by filmmaker Kiana Naghshineh.

At the Opera, Juan Pablo Zaramella

This stop-motion animated short is set at an especially moving opera. It only consists of one gag, but it’s set up very well. I expected something with more substance to it. As an opener to the program, I was satisfied. 7/10

Beep Beep Beep, Jeremy Diamond

Being stuck at a red traffic light that just will not change is one of the worst things that can happen to you. And it only gets worse when you have all of the other cars honking at each other. But I bet that you would have never imagined that this situation could be set to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, this is exactly what this animated short does.

The film is based on Beethoven’s Wig, a series of albums that pit his iconic works with silly lyrics. The song still retains its melancholy mood, but it is contrasted with the frustration of waiting in vain for the light to change. It’s a strange yet amusing combination. And although the animation is not as up to par with my standards, it’s still entertaining to see and listen to. 7/10

Rabbit and Deer, Péter Vácz

I describe this short as “baby’s first experimental animated film.” Two best friends, a rabbit and a deer, are torn apart after Deer starts having visions of a Rubik’s Cube. After countless hours of research and an accident, Deer finds that he has moved from the 2D animated world into the 3D one. But Rabbit is still stuck in 2D, so they have to come to a compromise.

I love the way that this short plays with both the 2D animation style and stop-motion 3D style. The things that they can do with both mediums is a joy to watch on screen. The story is simple enough for children to follow but still retains an air of abstraction. 9/10

Wombo, Daniel Acht

This short is “E.T.” meets “VeggieTales.” A potato-like alien cash lands through the roof of a suburban home. The alien happens to look just like a potato, so he has to find the key to his ship and get back home before he is eaten by a hungry family and their dog.

The movie starts to lose its charm after a while. The movie combines live action film with computer animated graphics. My main problem with this paring is that most of the time the alien doesn’t appear to have a physical presence. There are shots where he crashes through a window, but other than that the character appears flat on the screen. His general “Despicable Me,” minion-like behavior also starts to wear on me, and towards the end I wished that he was mashed. 6/10

The Whale Bird, Sophie Roze

This shorts follows the adventures of a little girl and her giant whale-bird friend. The short consists of a series of “slice of life” events throughout the day. Which is fine, but I think for a story like this, I would prefer something with a bit more structure and purpose. The animation was also kind of stilted despite being made in a computer. Calling this short a whale of a tale would be the overstatement of the century. 5/10

Monster Symphony, Kiana Naghshineh

All this film consists of is a little girl that conducts a singing monster chorus, with a montage of the monsters scaring people. The story is too thin to be taken seriously. But the real issue comes from the design of the little girl. Everything from her body structure to the wide “v” shape her mouth makes when smiling is criminally similar to Mei Kusakabe from “Totoro.” Rather than being cute and charming like Mei, the girl in the short just comes off as creepy. She scares away any redeeming value this movie had just like the monsters in it. 4/10

The New Species, Kateřina Karhánková

In this short a group of kids find an oddly shaped bone and imagine what sort of creature the bone belonged to. I am kind of indifferent to this film. It has a generic “kid-drawn style” and cliché ending. I wish I had more to write about, but it’s just too void of substance to talk about. 5/10

The Mole at the Sea, Anna Kadykova

This short is very reminiscent of Mercer Mayer’s “Just Grandma and Me,” almost criminally so. It’s the same kind of gags, the same kind of situations from the book, the same animation style, and even a similar small, furry mammal as the protagonist. The story also consists of a series of situations, but has a better beginning, middle, and end than “Monster Symphony.” But there’s no excuse for the overall lack of originality. 4/10

Mushroom Monster, Aleksander Leines Nordaas

How far would you go for a mushroom? This 3D, computer animated short is based on the popular Norwegian children’s book “I Morgentåkedalen” (In the Morning Mist Valley) by Jan Deberitz. It tells the tale of a mushroom-loving monster who longs to get the giant mushroom from the middle of a pond, but there is a deadly creature swimming around in it.

The monster’s design has a very Dr. Seuss-vibe to it, without being a copycat. But my only problem with its design is the gray pupils in the eyes. A detail like this shouldn’t be a problem, but because it’s the largest and most expressive part of the monster, it gets distracting very quickly. What’s wrong with regular old black?  I’ve seen this “object of desire” kind of storytelling and the kind of climax very often. And although the swamp area is appropriately dark and dense in atmosphere, the animation of the characters is stilted. 6/10

Gnarly in Pink, Benjamin Mullinkosson & Kristelle Laroche

This documentary short is about the Pink Helmet Posse, a group of six year old girls who love to skateboard. From the shots of the girls skating while wearing pink skirts and getting scared by some bees, we get to see the wonderful personalities of the girls. The short has a strong message to girls that never feels too preachy, not just that you can do the same things a boy traditionally can, but that you can still retain your femininity and embrace it as a part of who you are. My only problem with the film is that the boys that were interviewed and talked about the girls, seemed a bit antagonistic at first. But you realize that they were just being boys and they also admit that the girls are pretty cool too. This is a unique film showcasing a unique group of girls. 9/10

The girls’ website is an interesting find for those interested in the film.

The Dam Keeper, Robert Kondo & Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi

After all of the lukewarm films in this program, I did not expect to see a film of this quality. Robert Kondo and Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi, who both worked at Pixar, weave a beautiful tale about a pig whose job it is to keep the windmill running. At school, he is constantly teased and picked on. But everything changes when a transfer student, a fox, befriends him.

The animation is gorgeous. The visuals take on an appearance akin to an oil painting. Despite being made in flash, each frame is still hand drawn, and looks like its own hand-painted art piece. All of the characters and environments have depth and dimension, making everything look alive.

The characters not only have spatial depth, but also emotional depth. The pig and the fox steal the spotlight. The bullying arc never feels too put on or preachy. We see a little part of ourselves in each character, our hopes, dreams, insecurities, and joy. And the story’s message is all the more meaningful because of the characters.

It’s amazing that this short can both tell and show a Miyazaki caliber story in only 18 minutes, with hardly a word of dialogue. It took all of the best elements of Miyazaki’s work without being completely similar. This is not a short to be missed. 10/10