The Meaning of Life

The author obviously thinks he is making some profound statements about how life is, and, brother, this is so pretentious it's ridiculous. Worse than that, much of this animated short film will give you a headache, not entertainment. There is a segment early on which lasts for seems like eternity in which many people all talking at once. In other words, this movie assault your senses - in a negative way.

Putting it simply: this is not fun to watch.

Much of the other times, stick figures grunt, groan, make bird noises, pig noises, alien gibberish and just plain assault your ears. The stick figures are not clever, nor entertaining, just something that looks like weirdo drew while on drugs.

Because I enjoy the innovative artwork on all of these Animation DVD collections, I find it hard to dislike anything but this one - and another unnamed one - are just awful. The only redeeming quality on "The Meaning Of Life" was the excellent classical music score.

There's nothing to this short film. I like Don Hertzfeldt's other works so I was baffled and disappointed by this one. It shows a lot of imaginative life forms which might suit a bored artist's flipbook but as an actual film I got nothing out of it and found no meaning in it.

If one is willing to look into this without a one minute attention span, you will find yourself in there. You may not like what you see, but it's there. We are taken from the beginnings of life and brought through the development of civilization on Earth and then beyond that. Excellent storytelling in the simplest yet esoteric way possible.

"Life is a comedy to those who think, and a tragedy to those who feel."

That proverb's the best way I can summarize this animated short. It's not often that movies get me misty-eyed and it's never happened before with anything animated. But the combination of color, movement, wit, intelligence, music, and pure beauty on display here made me happy beyond words and indeed, to tears.

Prepare to be overwhelmed. It's 12 wild minutes of paradox, puzzle and happiness. You can drink it all in and bliss out like a 4 year old, yet have deep philosophical conversations about it with your friends for hours.

I've been enjoying Don Hertzfeldt's films for years, but this is his crowning masterpiece (so far) and it's unlike anything he's ever done before. As far as I'm concerned, Hertzfeldt is the most exciting talent working in animation today. Who'd have ever guessed that the master of stick figures would pull off a piece so well-crafted that it might not have been out of place coming out of the Disney Studio, circa 1955? Fans of Hertzfeldt's popular, more comedic films (like REJECTED or BILLY'S BALLOON) are in for a totally different variety of genius here. Hertzfeldt probably could have made a fortune doing REJECTED sequels for the rest of his life, but the sign of a true artist is somebody who keeps on taking huge risks, pushing the envelope, and taking things in entirely new directions.

I have no idea where Hertzfeldt will take us next, and I for one can't wait!

I'll give it that. Previously I'd only seen "Rejected" which nearly everyone has seen and likes. So when this came to town I was expecting something along those lines. The beginning is particularly intense with the hundreds of people walking and talking over each other alongside the Tchaichovsky music (and took 2 years to do!!). Also the creatures evolving into one another were very creative.

But I've heard and seen this all before - life is essentially meaningless hence the absurdity and pointlessness of the film. And of course there are people who do not believe this but it completely ignores that point of view.

Fortunately the film is short and has a great score and visual element but it does feel like it drags after the aliens explain the meaning of life (which of course we can't understand) since it pulls out into the galaxy and then nothing else happens for the last few minutes.

A lot of people at the screening seemed annoyed and frustrated as they watched this. Maybe they expected to find the meaning (they are idiots if that's the case) but I think they were like OK we get it.

If I were to recommend a Hertzfeld film for a person who hadn't seen his work I wouldn't use this one as a starter. If I were to recommend a Meaning of Life film I would definitely use Monty Python's 2 hour long version which is hilarious and is more about the life cycle and has a rather clever ending.

Not a bad film but you might find yourself checking your watch once or twice towards the end.

7/10