The Dam Keeper

'THE DAM KEEPER': Four Stars (Out of Five)

An 18 minute animated short; which was nominated for an Academy Award, for Best Animated Short Film, at the upcoming 87th Academy Awards. It was written and directed by Robert Kondo and Daisuke 'Dice' Tsutsumi and it's narrated by Lars Mikkelsen. The film tells the story of a future world of animals, that rely on a pig to constantly operate a large windmill dam; in order to keep dangerous pollution out. The pig is an outsider, who's constantly bullied by other animals at school. That changes when a new student comes to town; a friendly fox that befriends him. Things suddenly go really well for the pig, until he feels unexpectedly betrayed. The short is very dark and kind of frightening for kids; I know my eight-year old nephew thought it was pretty scary (but he also loved it). I could really relate to how harassed and somewhat alone the pig felt, due to the constant bullying. I think this is one of the stronger 2015 Oscar nominated animated shorts; because of it's relatability to kids. It's also really well made and bizarrely interesting!

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The Book is Great.

But for some reason, they changed the story for the film. Made it less dark. And it completely ruined it.

I won't be showing my kids this film. I'll just keep reading them the book.

Perhaps I'll adapt the book and make my own film using AI video tools. Just for my kids to watch.

Maybe everyone here liking the film is because they hadn't read the book first. It's my 3 year olds favourite book, and it's just so disappointing that they couldn't just adapt it true to the book. You usually hear that complaint when it comes to film adaptations from novels, I never thought i would be making that complaint about a little kids book too.

It is a precious portrait of the near other. It is admirable portrait of appearences, and modesty and friendship and little heroes. And it is example of beautiful drawings, seductive storytelling, great portrait of school life and about a fundamental duty , unknown by many but giving its huge significance in the context of a form of revenge. It is a splendid friendship portrait. So, just precious.

The Dam Keeper is a beautiful hand-made oil-painted animated longish short film that touches on very sad themes: loneliness, bullying and social exclusion. It speaks of the importance of humour and creativity to overcome the harshness of life, and is a reminder that unfunded fears take us to places we should never go as they have not doors for those people who want to get near us to enter.

The dam in the film is a not of water, if of dark clouds, pollution and darkness overall. A metaphor for the darkness that we all keep away every day, even though is there, around the corner. It is also about social darkness, because that is what most hurts the piggy, not the polluted air around; you can learn to control that, but to learn to deal with social exclusion and darkness is something that you learn the hard way if ever learned.

The film is very charming, very emotional and touching, greatly enhanced by a fantastic music score, and the wonderful non-invasive narration by Lars Mikkelsen. The textures and colors of the film, and its painterly nature help to create a timeless piece of animation.

To me, the main fault of the film is that we don't get to know why every single child in the school bullies the piggy and every adult ignores an orphan. It seems unrealistic and something that I want to believe rarely happens, especially if you are the person who keeps the community safe. It seems not to make sense, to me.

Overall, a wonderful animated film.

The story was very shallow. The main idea is very understandable and even trivial, but the execution is weak.

Both I and my child were bored while watching.