The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello

"The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello" is a wonderful cross between the animation of Hayao Miyazaki and the science fiction of Jules Verne.

Beautiful animation sets off the stark, futuristic, macabre story by Mark Shirrefs that has historic resonance from the Black Plague to AIDS to "On the Beach," and recalling tales of mad scientists from "Frankenstein" to "The Island of Dr. Moreau" to the cloning scandal in today's South Korea yet creates a completely original and very suspenseful film.

Not only is a whole other worldly environment and civilization created, but the silhouetted people (with their all too human foibles) and their complicated vehicles travel through breathtakingly beautiful weather and dangers. This is a very fresh take on the human role in nature vs. technology in the guise of an old tale of obsession as if told by Herman Melville or Edgar Allen Poe.

Joel Edgerton's gentlemanly journal narration as the titular navigator marvelously captures the Victorian formality of the storytelling, like an Australian Sherlock Holmes or Robinson Crusoe.

This film was viewed as part of a commercial screening of Oscar nominated shorts.

This is an immensely enjoyable film, with hints of Tim Burton's early animation work. The plot revolves around Jasper Morello, a navigator who has gained a reprieve after a past mistake and his explorations into unknown territory which lead to a twisted discovery, which while may prove to be his town's salvation, may come at the cost of his own soul.

A word of warning. This is not a children's animation film. The neo-Gothic animation as well as the minimal amount of colour except to emphasize blood ( reminding me of Sin City ) gave the film an effect that may scare young children.

The themes of the greater good and personal over objective feelings come through very well through the film and the ending is actually extremely well-handled under the circumstances. My only gripe, and it really isn't a gripe, is that this could have been lengthened into a longer film. However besides this small criticism there is nothing to complain about. The cast is great, with Edgerton fantastic as the beleaguered navigator Morello and the music is very good. I only wish that this movie got the publicity of Harvey Crumpet, because it certainly deserves it.

As short horror films go, this is one of the best I've seen in recent years. The story is genuinely chilling and the cut-out animation style is a perfect fit for old-fashioned narrative. Capturing the creepy essence of classic writers like Blackwood, Lovecraft, and Poe, this film is a mini-masterpiece and well worth tracking down. Fans of animation may notice a slight stylistic resemblance to some of the works of the brilliant Karel Zeman, although Zeman's work was seldom as intense or scary. The only problem I have with the film is that the disk is PAL encoded and won't play on standard North American DVD players.

This was a wonderful film visually--with an artistry and style that were truly unique. The machines and people are created in an unusual fashion--using mostly sepia tones and blacks as well as never showing details of the people's faces. Instead, the people are very reminiscent of Asian shadow puppets. You really just need to see it to understand how unusual this all looks--but it sure is very striking.

The story takes place in an alternate reality--a planet where steam-powered flying machines are common. Additionally, there is a bizarre plague breaking out and this, combined with the shadows and colors, creates a truly dark story. Making it worse, the story itself if very cold and creepy--truly macabre.

If you can get past how weird and disturbing it all is, then you'll probably love this film. I didn't particularly enjoy all the death, but because of the artistry and vision I still strongly recommend it to viewers with a relatively open mind.

This film, by the way, is very similar in spirit to another animated short, THE PERIWIG-MAKER (1999)--both having a theme that revolves around plague and both films are amazingly beautiful but dark.

This is a wonderfully made film. Stunning effects, fantastic in nature but still believable stories and characters. This definitely should have won the academy award it was nominated for. Weird, wonderful and just a little bit creepy, this is a very funky film.

And to Alan Jacobs, you do not know what films are supposed to be. If you can't see what a good movie this is then you don't deserve to watch films at all. It's as if you'e seen a horror movie then complained that it was bad because it scared you.

Would you rather see the same old Hollywood drivel over and over or would you rather see quality, original and affecting film-making? Obviously for you it's the former. Have a nice day :).