Gabriel Osorio Vargas's animated short Bear Story would be the perfect film to be embraced by the steampunk crowd. Its meticulous, mechanical, almost retrograde-style animation that simultaneously transports us back in time and in the future makes for an eye-catching affair, if those eyes don't well with tears while watching the story untold. The eleven-minute short concerns a lonesome bear, who tells his life story through a mechanical diorama he shows to passersby, as he collects tips while sharing a piece of his unfortunate life, hoping, if nothing else, to keep the memory of his family alive while he's doing what he loves.
While it has its fair share of mawkish sentiments, thanks to no dialog and a soft musical score, there's a commentary in Bear Story that didn't quite hit me until I began writing this review. The entire film's moral revolves around a bear continuing to work through heartbreak, sadness, and personal hardships by way of his passion. His meticulous, uncompromising craft keeps him going in many ways, and his zealous artistic ability is what keeps his gears turning like the gears in his many dioramas. The result produces two lofty morals: exhaust the pain away by fighting the tears by doing what you love and, for the umpteenth time, animation doesn't always correlate to being "for children."
