Feast

First off - I love this short film. It's adorable and fun and entertaining!

One thing though, I feel like the Three Trial structure was a little rushed. There have been three-minute short films that execute them better than this one did.

Nonetheless, it's still one of the best short films I've ever seen.

Your dog will always want to eat what you're eating - well, most usually, anyway, especially if it's not *good* for the dog particularly. Thank goodness, of course, this short from Disney (which won, deservedly I might hope, the Oscar for best animated short), doesn't show the aftermath of eating such things for a dog. But it's not really about that per-say, though of course if you have a dog you'll recognize it immediately as being accurate. What it's about is how a dog relates to its master, and what the filmmakers get so brilliantly in six minutes is how a dog can learn if it's put into the position to observe and react and feel its master's behavior.

So at the start of this, for the first minute or so, we're just seeing how the dog loves to eat - the junkier, the better, and god help him (or her?) when it comes time to the super-bowl - but then after this, we know just from the food that things have changed. The man is eating healthier because of the girl, so the dog gets less portions and more things like, uh, soy crisps or whatever. But then the girlfriend leaves this man, and he goes into over-eating depression mode. The dog is just happy to eat... until it sinks in the master is definitely *not* happy. This must be rectified. So off to find the ex-girlfriend...

Of course things are simplified into a quickness, but it's the sort of wonderful, compact, to-the-point and yet with a lot of depth and heart quickness that one has seen in other things produced by John Lassiter (though not to the same depth, I was reminded of the break-neck pace of life as the opening of Up had, how quickly life can move). And of course the dog itself is probably TOO cute, and I don't mean to say that as if to pinch the dog's cheeks, it's like they make the dog programmed to be that way... as if from a computer! At any rate, Feast is all about the love of food, but the love for humans that trumps it. It actually takes time to make the background as important as the foreground. Emotional effects/affects are really what's at stake here, not so much what the dog gets into its belly, which is what makes it so great for kids and adults - maybe adults more-so - as it plays to just making that right connection as an adult or as a kid.

Disney knows how to entertain its public and this can be seen in this short movie. We are told the story of a man and his puppy who live together in peace and harmony. Until an unforeseen event occurs, the puppy becomes a little bit upset, but discovers soon how to handle the situation and restore the atmosphere that was once in the house. Oh, I love happy endings.

'FEAST': Four Stars (Out of Five)

A 6 minute Disney animated short film; which played in theaters (including 3D ones) before the feature length Disney animated hit 'BIG HERO 6' (it's also been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, at the upcoming 87th Academy Awards). It's both hand-drawn and computer animated and tells the story a dog, that loves to eat, who's spoiled by his owner, with all kinds of human junk food. The dog's owner falls for a waitress, that works at a restaurant nearby, and we witness their relationship through the eyes of the dog. The dog's diet also changes, for the bad in his mind, because the waitress is a vegan. It was directed and co- written (with Nicole Mitchell and Raymond S. Persi) by animator, turned first time filmmaker, Patrick Osborne. The visuals are beautiful to watch (of course) and it's nice to see a love story, about humans, told through the eyes of a dog. I'm an animal lover and too often we see films told through the eyes of humans, and can only guess what any animals (in the film) might be feeling or thinking. This short is brilliantly told from the opposite perspective. Given the cool subject matter it could have been a tad more touching and emotional though.

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Feast was shown in theaters before Disney's Big Hero 6, and serves as a nice vehicle for the fun-loving mayhem that takes place in that particular film. This short is a heartwarmer from start to finish, concerning an owner and his dog who bound over the foods they eat and the company they share while eating. This kind of connection to anyone who owns a pet is a familiar one, and it's a beautiful representation of a man/dog relationship. As expected, Disney hits the appropriate notes here, playing to ones emotions, childlike sense of whimsy, and cuteness factor in having a fun-loving dog chow down on whatever is placed in front of him. Despite all these clear and evident tactics, the short amazingly works and serves as the Best Animated Short winner for good, albeit simplistic, reasons.

Directed by: Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed.