The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

I found this 15 minutes movie totally by chance, as I was browsing the blog of a Portuguese books lover. I started watching the movie and I was immediately charmed. An old friend of mine came to my mind: a friendship of some sixty years.

I was five or six, he was fifteen or sixteen by that time. An aunt of him was living together with us and he was visiting her very often. I was just opening my eyes to the world, and the world was immense and full of unknowns, so no wonder I had lots of questions. He was taking time to listen to my questions and to give answers. It was about anything one could imagine, about pirates and about explorers, about the North Pole and the South Pole, and about seas and oceans, about hunting exotic animals, and about what job to take when I would grow up.

After two years or so I started going to school, and he entered the University. He began to pass some books of him to me, as I remember it was firstly The Wizard of Oz, then some books by Jules Verne and Nikolay Nosov. A book about volcanoes followed, and then a book written by Sven Hedin about his travels all over the world.

Years have passed, each of us was following his ways, while both sharing the passion for books. Sometimes we were meeting in a used books store, each browsing some old French book, or some album of old photos. Sometimes I was visiting him, some other times he was returning the visit. Each time it was a book that was coming in our discussion. When I left for America we met and he showed me three books he was reading somehow in parallel, about the American ways and about immigrant experience there.

After many years I came back and our friendship was no more the same. Maybe because both of us were old now, maybe because of lack of time, or because of lack of enthusiasm, or a bit of all these. Anyway our last meeting brought the subject of books again, only this time to punctuate disagreements. I was now using intensively the web and the electronic books, while for him only the printed books had sense, nothing else.

This was a couple of years ago. We tried to meet again, but each time it was something impeding it. We called each other by phone several times, then this stopped too. Life went on and electronic books became more and more sophisticated, advancing from desktops and laptops to tablets, while printed books remained the same, more and more forgotten on shabby shelves.

I called him again today, after watching the movie: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore tells a story about printed books, about their pages, full of words and images, about living surrounded by books, dreaming while browsing the pages till you get lost in their stories. It's about love for the printed word, and about the way the printed word returns your love. A movie about the aggressiveness of electronic books, acting like a hurricane, destroying the spirit of words and of images, and about the way to reconstruct the lost spirit. All this in an animation, in the form of a story for kids, a fantasy taking place in an atmosphere reminding sometimes The Wizard of Oz , maybe also a bit Le Ballon Rouge (while the hero somehow resembles Buster Keaton).

Ironically, the story is based on a book that can be read now on laptops and on tablets, browsing the electronic pages and inviting the reader to play interactively.

And I called my friend to tell him about all this, and I said that I would dedicate this text to him and to his love for the printed book, only he wouldn't be able to read it: the text is on the web.

Charming, humorous, and poignant is the best way to describe The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore, a little piece about the power of stories and how they can positively affect our lives. The art style itself is reminiscent of a book illustration with its rounded characters, soft colors, and warm lighting. The animation utilizes a variety of techniques from CG to stop motion, and, combined with the great background and character designs, makes for pure eye candy.

However, the real reason to check out Morris Lessmore is for the story. It tells the story of a young man in love with books and writing who comes across a library full of living, flying books after his city is destroyed by a hurricane. The books bring liveliness and joy back into his life, and in turn, he takes care of them. More happens after that, but I won't dare spoil it for you, as you have to see it in order to really enjoy it.

It's a brief piece at only fifteen minutes, but I assure you it's worth every second. The ending had me uplifted and actually shedding tears. Thus I'm baffled at the current score-- I'm not saying I was expecting a 10 or even an 8, but not even a 7 seems too low a score for one of the best animated short films of the past year.

I saw it many times. And each time was the first and it remains the one. Because it is real, real, real ic or magnificent are fair terms about it. Because the stories , from so many sources, so well crafted one bz one are the precious gift of an remarkable director and his admirable team. special animation. Because it is soft, delicate, gentle and wise definition of life. Because it is the poem and refuge and tea cup who zou deserve in profound sense. So, mag

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore." 2011, Animation of a children's book written by William Joyce.

Having discovered the story via a chance encounter in a Edinburgh Charity Shop in late October November 2020. I purchased for my then 4 year old grandson. It introduced the world of Morris Lessmore and his love of books and of words and of storytelling. It captivated me and also Leonard' my grandson's imagination.

The book would be read principally by me whilst it was bath time for Leonard, he in turn asking for it to be read and slowly but surely he began reading along with it. Of course he would often say "not Morris Lessmore" when I would ask what he wanted to read. Knowing that his smile was telling me that he knows that that book is OUR book, for OUR time and we didn't always need to read it.

What of the animation, on searching for it on YouTube we found it and again it it lovingly recreates Lessmore's world and his love of books. The animation does and can stand alone away from the book, it uses the same lovingly drawn illustrations throughout and is a delight. For me it will always be a loving time capsule of Friday night bath time for Leonard on his sleep overs.

On a personal I identify with Morris Lessmore, for him it is books, but for me it is CDs and the slowly disappearing world of the record shop or in my case the compact disc shop. I can recall each and every CD I've bought & recall the shops and holidays I've spent searching for some obscure title, each disc in turn transporting me to some far away place in time or distance within the music held within.

A near perfect children's story and if it introduces one child to reading it is worth a 10/10 rating. For a casual viewer I'd give it a 8/10 for sheer enjoyment.

After it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short, I felt compelled to give The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore a watch. Time well spent! The movie is a product of such sheer ingenuity that it could have only come from the whimsical mind of filmmaker and author William Joyce. He infuses delightful imagination into every second of the film. The whimsical animation is a great visual factor, and the story takes influence from The Wizard of Oz in more ways than one. It's a labor of love for Joyce, and one that flourishes with an unashamed love for the magic of literature. It's hard not to be charmed by all the creativity, and despite a generously short running time, the film still manages to give a strong emotional punch. I'd love to see something like this get a full length feature of its own, if it weren't for the fact that it would require way too much padding. In the end, 15 minutes is the perfect mark for this unmistakable gem.