Moving Illustrations of Machines

Jeremy Solterbeck has created a masterpiece in animation with this short film. Every frame is beautifully detailed and leaves no void. In an age when animation often appears facil to the point of cookie-cut, Solterbeck's brilliantly executed vision is a glass of cool water in a vapid desert. These thoughtful "moving illustrations" are set to positively lyrical and illuminating original music composed by Solterbeck and revolve around a theme of "What if . . . clones?" In just a few minutes, the viewer is taken to another world which lends an appreciation for the originality of the mind of Solterbeck as well as the devine mystery of what it is to be human.

Cloning is the subject matter here in this detailed animated short that supposedly took four years to complete.It's hand-drawn ink artwork by Jeremy Sollerbeck The introduction quote tells you what all the visuals that follow imply. We hear "Dr.Richard Seed, physicist, cloning advocate," say the following in discussing his excitement over cloning: "We are going to have almost as much knowledge and almost as much power as God.Cloning is the first serious step in becoming "one with God," he states.

Hey, doc, people said the same things way back in the days of the Tower Of Babel. People who want to play God, like the writers here, always wind up a short in their arrogant expectations.

After that intro, what the viewer gets is about eight minutes of of black-and-white mechanical images, supposedly DNA molecules, strands, and such, timepieces, and other symbolic mechanisms. The visuals are the "show" here, more than any story, since there is no story. There is no dialog after the intro, just dramatic classical music to accompany the abstract visuals.

Even though I love abstract art and thus found this watchable, I doubt most other people would. I disagree with those who thought this animated short "ended too soon." I thought it went on too long and was a bunch of pretentious hooey.