The Chubbchubbs!

'The Chubbchubbs!' is a nice animated short that won the Oscar in its category. I have to admit it is pretty funny. There are a lot of references to science-fiction films. Obvious references are Darth Vader, Yoda and Jar Jar Binks from 'Star Wars' and we see E.T. in a bicycle. Harder to find but also there are references to 'Alien', 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' and 'Lost in Space'.

So the short is fun because you can spot the little references, but without those things it is quite good anyway. The animations are very well done, the story has a nice little twist and simply said, it is funny. Most animated short films have the biggest laugh in the end, 'The Chubbchubbs!' is no exception, but there are quite some good moments before that as well.

The story is quite simple. A whole bunch of recognizable aliens are at a night club where a singer is belting out RESPECT. A janitor alien thinks he can sing. When the Chubbchubbs show up (monstrous giants with evil intent) the place is deserted, leaving our hero to confront them. But there is a surprise for these guys. It's visually fun and mostly predictable.

I thought that the plot of this film was great. The story of a clumsy janitor who had a dream of singing on stage was entertaining to me. I thought that this film had a lot of great humor including when the janitor would fall onto the leader singer. It was interesting how the director's were able to fool the view by making the Chubbchubbs look cute, instead of the being the tough monsters carrying weapons. The animation was excellent and left me wanting to watch this as a feature length film. I especially liked the Star Wars references because I am a big fan of the series. Overall, I think that this was a great film and I give it a 10 out of 10.

My parents dragged me to cinema because of "Stuart Little 2" - while this movie was not a bad one the opening was worth all the money.

The opening turned out to be a (sadly) short movie titled "The Chubbchubbs". It was more than entertaining - the animated characters were downright funny (for example, you can see Darth Vader and Yoda arm wrestling).

It is obvious that the creators of this movie put a lot of effort into it. Both graphics and story (short as it is) were excellent. The movie made me laugh continuously and I don't think I was the only one who wished there had been more once it was over.

Now I just have to convince my Granny to give me one of those Chubbchubbs for Christmas.

What? You want to know what a Cubbchubb is? Well, I certainly won't spoil you the fun of finding out for yourself. All I can say is that I highly recommend this movie if you like to laugh. And who doesn't?

This 5 minute, 41 second computer-animated short can be found on the second disc of the 2-DVD special edition of "Men in Black 2". And at such a short running time manages to be much more enjoyable then the main feature. The cartoon deals with an alien janitor named Mupps, and his dreams of singing in the intergalactic bar that he works at. A bar inhabited by a great many recognizable patrons. When he find out the Chubbchubbs are coming, he tries to warn everyone with comical consequences. I won't give away any more except to say this cute short deserved the two awards that it won from the Academy.

My Grade: B+