Bunny

Sometimes I read reviews by other users on the IMDb as I write my own and I made the mistake of doing that for this film. Only about 15 people have written reviews at the time I am writing this, but as is generally the case, I was astounded at some of the things that people had to say about this brilliant film. Just as many people praised the quality of the animation as people who pointed it out as a way to see how far animation has come since it was released. One user even wrote that the animation was clearly dated, as though it were old and unimpressive. What is truly odd is that I think that the person who wrote that has written more reviews on the IMDb than anyone else on the site, and yet he completely missed the fact that the ragged, worn out stuffed-animal appearance of Bunny is all animated. This is not go-motion, it's pure animation and it's absolutely stunning.

Even more astounding were a couple of complaints that the ending was stupid, or confusing. At the moment I'm having a hard time deciding which of these ludicrous claims is more foolish. The movie is an animated short with more of a somber feel than the typical animated short, and deals with what might happen to people when they die. This is, of course, all explained in the intro to the film, although had I not watched it I find it hard to believe that I would have been confused by an ending that featured an elderly bunny rabbit crawling into her oven and then flying into a white light, especially since she sprouts wings on the way. Director Chris Wedge describes it as sort of a fun way to look at the reality of death if, as Tigger might say, you can imaginate such a thing.

The entire film is very quiet and almost depressing, even when we identify with Bunny for wanting to get rid of the pesky moth, she shuts it outside in the dark, turning off the porch light and leaving it in darkness, at which point feelings of annoyance turn instantly into feelings of sympathy. In the space of no more than a second or two we go from wanting to swat the moth to wanting to bring it back inside. This, I have to say, is absolutely brilliant screen writing (by the way, another IMDb user made the astonishing comment that animated short films should stick entirely to comedy and cuteness, which itself is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read on this site or anywhere else. I personally take it to be the same as saying that female actors should stick to romantic comedies).

There are lots of clever touches in the film, such as the fact that Bunny uses a walker just as any aging woman would, but she still hops along with it. It's one of those things that you wouldn't even think about but that add tremendously to her character when you see it. Bunny is, even without the hopping, probably the most complex character that you could hope to see developed in a 7 1/2 minute animated film without a syllable of dialogue. She has lost her husband, lives alone, and while we want to feel sympathy for her (and ultimately do), it is unsettling that she shuts the moth out in total darkness, almost as though she were starving it, and then even more unsettling that she swats it dead, stirs it viciously into her batter and loses her temper, hurling it into the oven and slamming the door with what must be the great majority of her might.

When she falls asleep just afterwards, it is, as Chris Wedge explains in the intro, her symbolic death, and the film changes drastically from a lonely old woman cooking alone in her lonely cabin and into a portrayal of her path to Heaven and reunion with her lost husband.

What I especially like is that the movie never becomes preachy, it doesn't show her becoming young again and dancing in Heaven with her husband, it simply shows her growing wings on her way into the light and then, in possibly the most moving few seconds that have ever been animated, there is a dissolve to her and her husband's wedding photo and moths fly up behind them, superimposing angel's wings onto the photo.

My grandfather passed away recently and, since I own an editing studio, I made a video eulogy using family pictures that spanned something like the last 30 years, and am now making DVD copies to send out to my 10 aunts and uncles and countless cousins, and I ended the video with my grandparents' black and white wedding photo from the early 1950s in Colombia and superimposed it over a short clip of the sun shining through moving clouds. It is truly a moving video, so I can clearly understand the motivation behind Chris Wedge using it as an ending. I feel honored to have had a similar idea, and even more disturbed that anyone would call it stupid or confusing.

This is finally an animated short film that is not about it's animation, unlike Scrat's Missing Adventure, Boundin', and even Geri's Game, which is one of the cleverest and most charming animated short films I've ever seen. All of these are wonderful and fun animated short films, but none of them approach the power of Bunny.

Bravo.

It was an interesting shirt to watch. There's not much to really say other than it's about a widowed rabbit who finds herself bothered by a moth while she's baking a cake. The short focuses on her attempts to rid from her house while also giving insight on her past.

I've read some people found it scary or haunting. But for me, I never got that vibe. I will say the render for the main character hasn't aged well and does look eerie, but that's about it. Nitpick aside, it's an ok short.

I won't give away the ending, but it's pretty interesting to say the least. If you have kids and are interested, check it out. It's worth a watch.

This won the Academy Award for Animated Short and it's easy to see why, even in a fairly strong field of nominees. The technical aspects alone would justify the award. It's a visually arresting cartoon. I've seen much less attention to detail in "set decoration" in feature-length live-action films! But the visuals are only part of the tale here-indeed, it is the tale itself that is at the heart of things here. The characters matter, the interactions make sense and the story is interesting to the viewer (although, at least in my opinion, the primary reason this won out over another nominee was the superior visual look and feel of Bunny and the race was close there, as well. Too bad they didn't end up tied) without becoming cloying at the end. Good to see this getting wider release on the DVD of the feature Ice Age, by the same studio. Let's hope features don't take up all their time and energy, so that they can occasionally give us a shorter marvel like this. Well worth watching. Most highly recommended.

In the world of computer animation we often see very visually impressive feats but it is very rare we see stories just as impressive. Bunny is a simple and touching tale of love and loneliness. When I first saw stills I assumed it was stop motion because the character was so warm and real. Quite an achievement.

First of all let me say that this short film had some of the most impressive computer animation I've ever seen in my life. Truly impressive and mesmerizing.

I do have one major complaint though. The story is friggin' stupid! I'm sorry but my personal belief is that an animated short film should NEVER try to be dramatic, stick to pure comedy and cuteness. Maybe it's just that I was expecting something else having seen "Ice Age" before "Bunny", but I was just waiting for something funny to happen and it never came. The whole oven/portal thing was lame! Maybe it's just my ignorance, but if it wasn't for the commentary on the "Ice Age" dvd I wouldn't have understood what the writers/animators were trying to say at all.

I'm sorry, but I thought the story was just boring and stupid, but the animation was excellent. I will say this though, the little moth was pretty cute (and extremely well done). In any case, I would definitely still recommend seeing this short film (despite my dislike for the story), due to the animation and it's extremely short length. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading.

-Chris