The Chubbchubbs!

My parents dragged me to cinema because of "Stuart Little 2" - while this movie was not a bad one the opening was worth all the money.

The opening turned out to be a (sadly) short movie titled "The Chubbchubbs". It was more than entertaining - the animated characters were downright funny (for example, you can see Darth Vader and Yoda arm wrestling).

It is obvious that the creators of this movie put a lot of effort into it. Both graphics and story (short as it is) were excellent. The movie made me laugh continuously and I don't think I was the only one who wished there had been more once it was over.

Now I just have to convince my Granny to give me one of those Chubbchubbs for Christmas.

What? You want to know what a Cubbchubb is? Well, I certainly won't spoil you the fun of finding out for yourself. All I can say is that I highly recommend this movie if you like to laugh. And who doesn't?

This short movie won the makers the Best Short Animation Oscar in 2003. I agree with it. This is a funny, beautiful and unique story with merry songs. The main character is a tender alien who likes singing a song and longs in be a singer. However, it does not seem to come true. One day, big enemies attacked the town, what does he do then? In the film, there are various unique and cute aliens including Yoda who is in a StarWars. So, the person who love alien like me may really enjoy it. In addition, I also like the music. Their singing and dancing are strange and funny, but very cute. However, I don't recommend watching for young children. It's totally cute, but the scenes of the fight are too frightened. If you are not too easily scared, you should watch right now and then go to karaoke! It's only 5 minutes and their visuals and music are fantastic!

The reason I saw CHUBBCHUBBS! is not at all typical. I never saw HAPPY FEET (which was bundled with CHUBBCHUBBS! when released) but saw just this short film because I read a review on IMDb for THE CATHEDRAL--a picture that lost to CHUBBCHUBBS! for the Oscar for Best Animated Short in 2003. This reviewer thought THE CATHEDRAL "was robbed" and they hated CHUBBCHUBBS!--and this encouraged me to see for myself if they were right.

From the onset, CHUBBCHUBBS! was an entirely different film than THE CATHEDRAL--having all the charm and polish you'd expect from a large CG studio, whereas THE CATHEDRAL looked more like a cut scene from a video game or an experimental film. While I strongly want to encourage young film makers, the quality and polish and completeness of the CHUBBCHUBBS! production was obvious--telling a first-class story in a manner that will not only impress film snobs but families as well. In fact, of all the Oscar-nominated films that year, the best short of the year probably was still THE CHUBBCHUBBS!, but I was surprised as how wonderful and original DAS RAD was--it sure was better than THE CHUBBCHUBBS in several ways, though I think THE CHUBBCHUBBS is definitely more the crowd pleaser.

Because other reviewers have discussed the plot, I'll just wrap it up by saying while this is far from the best short I've seen in recent days, it is very enjoyable and is good for a nice laugh. I particularly liked all the references to previous sci-fi films, such as STAR WARS, E.T. and FORBIDDEN PLANET.

The story is quite simple. A whole bunch of recognizable aliens are at a night club where a singer is belting out RESPECT. A janitor alien thinks he can sing. When the Chubbchubbs show up (monstrous giants with evil intent) the place is deserted, leaving our hero to confront them. But there is a surprise for these guys. It's visually fun and mostly predictable.

Meeper is a janitor in an alien nightclub. He dreams of being a singer though he is clearly not very good at all. When yet another clumsy accident occurs he is tossed from the club out on the ground. While there he notices a large cloud of dust approaching – the chubbchubbs! He tries to warn the nightclubbers, completely unaware that this may be his big break in show business.

I saw this film on the DVD for MIIB and wasn't sure what to expect or even if it was a spin off from the movie. I had heard of it's Oscar nomination at the time so assumed that it was either really good or that it had got well known off the back of the film. Watching it reveals it to be a nice little short – unassuming and perhaps slightly unworthy of the praise heaped on it (for content anyway) but still fun. The plot is very thin and is really only a setup for some amusing jokes. Most of them are good for kids but adults will enjoy them anyway.

The one thing that let me down was the fact that the film made fun of Jar-Jar Binks (an activity surely everyone supports) but only for 15 seconds! I wanted this mock Jar-Jar to be in it longer to be used better as a target! However Meeper is quite a cool little character and is amusing enough to carry the lead. The plot's thinness is a problem as it doesn't really have anywhere to go to justify the running time – it could easily have lost a minute and still done the same job. However these are minor quibbles.

Technically the short looks good and the animation is smooth and clever. It is funny without ever getting you in stitches like it could have done with a bit more work on the script and plot – it sort of plateau's instead of building. Overall this was a pleasant surprise on my DVD. I don't know if it is worth seeking out by itself but it is worth a watch if you get a chance.