Flatworld

This short film is one of the finest pieces of animation I've seen in a long time. I stumbled upon it one afternoon and I fell in love. The combination of 3D and 2D animation, 2D characters in a 3D cardboard background and traditional cel animation, is incredibly well recieved. The entire sequence of the battle between the hero, Matt Phlatt, his cat Jeff, and the Burglar, attempting to retrieve the stolen money through the water conduit is incredible. There may be no dialogue, but it's not needed. It's by far one of the best animated films that the BBC has produced in a long time.

We watched that movie in class and the teacher told us to create a review...

I really liked the film, because it is impressive, what the creator had to do, to film this short movie! For me, it is the first step into the modern animation. it is actually 2D animation, but it looks like 3D, because of the cleverness of the film team.

But sometimes you can see the 2D. For example: There was one scene, where a dog hit his head into the paddle. There you could see the 2D animation for a short time...

But that is the only reason, why I gave it just 8 of 10.

I love it, that the movie was without talking anything. It is so simple, but I think it fits to the movie! It is also really good, that everybody all around the world could watch the movie.

All in all I think that "Flatworld" is a masterpiece of a movie! And I think, if I will get the chance to watch it again, I definite watch it again!





Sorry for some mistakes, but my English isn't that good!

Flatworld is a short film by Daniel Greaves released in 1997.

The world in which the story is set is entirely made of paper and cardboard, so all characters and objects (like cars) are in 2D, while the world is in 3D. This is probably the first feature we notice, feature that makes Flatworld so different from other short films. The plot is focused on the life of Matt and his two animals, a cat and a fish. Because of an accident caused by Matt while working, the character of a tv show arrives in Flatworld causing various problems.

But is not just the plot that makes this short film so special. Flatworld is realized perfectly combining two different filming techniques: stop-motion and animation. Sound effects are extremely good as they greatly highlight both funny and serious moments. There are no dialogues, so anyone could watch it and understand everything.

I really appreciated Flatworld, I think that, even after 20 years, it still is a really enjoyable short film. It's funny and easy to understand (perfect for kids), but it's also a technical masterpiece.

I honestly loved the movie Flatworld. It's very imaginative and innovative, considering that it was produced in 1997, without many of the technologies which are now available to us. The soundtrack is amazing: how many films are able to express theirselves in such a brilliant way without using a single world? I feel like it was because of the music choice, which I personally found very suitable in every scene. Let's not forget the main characteristic of this movie: it was all made with paper, using the stop motion technique. Pretty amazing work. The story was brilliant in its semplicity; it shows you a world where there's no three-dimensionality, but a "reversible world" underneath, which would be pretty cool if it actually existed in real life. I enjoyed how the animals were "humanized": both the fish and the cat got human's traits, and this made them even more appreciable, in my opinion. Last thing, I really appreciated when, at the end of the end credits, the version I saw proposed a short documentary on how this movie was made. Discovering the writer's and the film-makers' ideas was very interesting, so, if you haven't seen it yet, I suggest you do that!

I really enjoyed this film! The merging of stop motion and cell animation provided an interesting contrast between the two "worlds", and the concept of developing a stop motion world based on the mechanics of the materials it's made out of is something that not that many films explore, but which was done really well here. I also felt that the length of the film suited the style and story really well- as much as I enjoyed this, it might have dragged on if it had been too long. All in all, the style and concept were really enjoyable, and I would happily watch it again