Rejected

"Rejected" is a brilliant animated digression which is understated as it pertains to the animation, but a three ring circus that is both genius and insane with it's bizarre yet exponentially hilarious dialogue. The soundtrack is also ecclectic yet highly effective. This short receives my strongest rec. It is an aquired taste, but worthy of your mental digestion.... and with a spartan but effective runtime what do you have to lose? "My spoon is too big".... drawing with his left hand.... the instability of his cartoon world.... and the deleted seqeunce are classic.

"Rejected" (2000) = A (add + for animation fans)

Anyone who loves absurdity should watch this cartoon. I can't put it into any more simple terms. A friend of mine just showed me this film, and it blew my mind. I'm a huge fan of spontaneous/absurd/random humor. I love the work of Jhonen Vasquez, a comic book writer. This film reminds me of what might have happened had Vasquez started using animation earlier in his career, circa his "Bad Art Collection." If you are looking for deep meaning or warm emotions, go watch a drama. If you are looking for something completely different (as a certain group of British fellows who were also fond of absurdity might have said), then find or buy a copy of this and watch it. Don Hertzfeldt's "Rejected" is shocking, and it is meant to be. It also serves as a comment on commerciality and its effects on the creative spirit. But, really, the meaning is not the most important part. Some people who have commented on this movie have questioned the validity of the companies for which these "rejected" ads are supposedly made. I believe that is like going to watch Superman and saying "Ya know...I don't think Planet Krypton is real. I can't watch this." It's called "a willing suspension of disbelief." Whether or not these are REAL rejected advertisements is unimportant. Just watch the film as if they are real, and try to imagine how you'd react if you saw such an ad on a Family-based channel. That is really the only joke there is to get. If you can get through that, there is no doubt that Hertzfeldt's simple cartoons and their absurd and brief lives will make you laugh, and can make you enjoy your own life in our absurd world. Somewhere in between "Un Chien Andalou" and "Ren and Stimpy" lies "Rejected", an amazing piece of surreal animated bliss.

Deserved revenge in the film business must come rarely. I don't for a minute believe that Hertzfeldt is blameless in how he dealt with "the suits," but I've had enough dealings with them to serve them any insult possible.

I first encountered Hertzfeldt's work in "A L'amour" done before this. It has him approaching different women and saying innocuous things "Betty, those are nice shoes" and having her chainsaw out his heart and eat it.

This stuff is along the same lines, a little less powerful and more uneven. But what makes this something you'll remember for a long time is the stuff done after the initial rejected bits and the faux ads. Its the stuff where the cartoon itself begins to disintegrate.

It is a literal example of self-referential folding: the paper crinkles and destroys the world.

This is probably the second best of his stuff. See "Genre" if you can.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

I don't know what Buff-17 was talking about when he submitted his review of the movie... Perhaps he had a cup of tea, and sat alone in his house with darkened lights to watch it in full surround sound...

Buff, I think you were simply looking a bit too deep.

I saw this film for the first time at Spike and Mike's film festival with a group of my friends. You aren't missing any jokes, buff - in fact, you are looking so hard you are missing the point. It is funny because it's so incredibly ridiculous.. and original.

Now then, this film is the funniest animation of all time. I laughed myself to tears (never happened before) watching the previous work, "Billy's Balloon," but this one.. by the end, I could not see the theatre screen. I was having trouble breathing.

And no, I'm not one of those annoying theatre types that bellow at the screen any time a fart joke is spoken.

This truly is an amazingly funny movie. The whole theatre was in uproar throughout most of the film. If you enjoy a good laugh, then this is a MUST SEE MOVIE.

i saw this the first time at the spike and mike festival in austin... i could not stop laughing. nobody else could stop laughing. i was holding my face because it hurt so much from laughing. if you are one who thinks that good old clean jokes about anything crossing any roads, no, this may not be for you. but if you have a sense of humour, and would like to see something new and different, then please watch this. i've seen it a few times since then (it's been a few years) and laugh just as hard every time. if you do enojoy it, make sure to check out some of his other clips.