A ten year old boy helplessly falls in love for the first time and inevitably has his heart broken. So to prevent this, he utilises an incantation to shield him from emotion forever. Melancholic whilst imitating Tim Burton's gothic style, O'Rourke's short film feels too simple for its own good. The animation, narration and story is presented in a way that younger audiences can access, which is great. But in doing so, the emotional journey of overcoming heartache is simplified to an extent that all the resonance and attachment to the story has dissipated. A shame considering the unique charm that it exhumes.
The legendary Alan Rickman narrates the story and, despite harnessing the best voice ever, there was a distinct lack of lyricism to the narration. Its poetic foundations lost amidst the star power of Rickman. Then we come to the animation itself. As always, I applaud the effort that goes into fully animating a story, especially when produced independently. However the stilted style and lack of fluidity was reminiscent that of a PlayStation 2 video game (this was released in 2011). It's a common form of storytelling, with many other independent short films using the style and achieving better results. Still, the story is conveyed through some magical moments, just not enough to fully captivate me and overcome its outdated animation style.
