Adam

This short was nominated for an Academy Award and is well worth watching, though it was probably about a minute too long or thereabouts. It's often amusing, but drags in spots. Interesting idea with excellent animation, but uneven and tedious at times. Recommended.

We start with a barren globe. Adam is placed on it and proceeds to check it out. It is all wet claymation and after about a minute offers very little of interest.

Yet another fine example of Aardman's pure unbounded brilliance, this amusing and engaging short focuses on the misadventures of a lonesome plasticine figure when his Creator (represented by a real human hand) places him on a tiny nondescript planet and brings him to life. The musical score used in the opening title is bold, beautiful and breathtaking but, in a sparkling piece of irony, when we actually get to meet this 'Adam' for ourselves, he turns out to be a weak, innocent and hopelessly naive being who, having been given life, has trouble working out exactly what it is he's supposed to be doing with it. He goes through all the various stages of coming to terms with his own existence and identity and exploring the world around him, and when it becomes apparent that Adam will never get by down there on his own, his Creator finally chooses to take more clay and mould him a companion, much to Adam's delight. Trouble is, the finished product isn't quite what our hero had in mind, making way for a hilarious and at the same time rather poignant conclusion.

The animation, in spite of looking just a tad unpolished, is excellent, the sight gags are perfectly executed (I like Adam's futile attempt to head off and see the rest of the world myself), and Adam himself is as charming a stop motion character as they come. His total obliviousness to his own limitations, which somehow manage to land him in all kinds of perilous situations on this seemingly innocuous planet, is what makes him so thoroughly appealing. It all comes together to produce one of the most fascinating and ambiguous films that the Bristol-based studio has ever crafted. Did Peter Lord intend it as a social commentary on male and female relations, a statement about humankind in general, an analogy of the animator's role as 'God' to the claymation figures he sculpts and brings to 'life', or simply a playful variation on the familiar creation story? Well, that's for your own interpretation to decide, but I personally view it as being a mixture of them all. Whatever the real meaning, it's lovable, enjoyable and Aardman's most inspired shot at a non-dialogue film.

Grade: A

This 5-minute film short is one of 4 different shorts on one VHS tape by Aardman Animations, the group that has given us the Wallace and Gromit animations.

"Adam" is a whimsical look at the creation of man. We see a rather small (compared to the size of the real Earth) blue-green crater-pocked ball of clay. Onto it the hand (and arm) of God (but not really God) places this lifeless figure on the top, it falls, He picks it up, eventually it gets the hang of standing up, and then it explores this new world. Then we wonder, will we see him get his mate??

At only 5 minutes running time it doesn't require much effort to stick with it. Nothing Earth-shaking but a fun 5 minutes.

Adam is the story of the first man on the planet Earth, who is known better with his female counterpart Eve. Adam, the short claymation film from Aardman animation is more about Adam and God and how the two got along, and how lonely Adam was with no female, or anyone for that matter.

The short starts off with God, who is portrayed by the hand of film artist Nick Upton, making Adam out of clay. He sticks him on the world, which is only about 10 times as big as Adam himself and is nothing but a ball of clay. There is no talking here, so anything that would be said is acted out instead. Adam does various things, like try to travel around the world, which takes him only a few seconds, and throws a piece of the Earth which flies around the Earth until stopped by his head. Adam becomes lonely and asks God to make him a companion, which ends in a silly, but effective ending.

This is a very slapstick reliant short. Adam is like one of the 3 Stooges and does amusing things either ending in him getting hurt or acting goofy. I wouldn't call the humor hilarious, but it's quite amusing. The animation is good, with Adam being the only main clay animated character, and God being a stop motion hand. You can find this on the Creature Comforts shorts compilation DVD, and if you're a fan of Aardman animation, or just a fan of animation in general, you'll be sure to enjoy this.

My rating: *** out of ****. 6 mins.