Logorama©

This Oscar nominated short animation is about an American city composed of logos, that gets destroyed in a chaos of man-made and natural disasters.

"Logorama" may be viewed as innovative and entertaining as it incorporates so many brands and logos in the film. it may help to connect with the viewers as people and backgrounds are already familiar. However, I argue that "Logorama" could be a vehicle marketing, serving to advertise hundreds of brands in a space of 16 minutes. Most of the logos are on the screen for no apparent reason, and adds no storyline or depth to the plot. The logos are there just for the sake of being there. The inundation of unsubtle product placement and in your face advertising makes me wonder whether artistic merits are still prevalent in the short. I am hesitant to praise this short in a positive manner.

'Logorama' is an Oscar-winning short comedy that cleverly satirizes extreme corporate-and-consumerism by creating a universe built upon various logos and products and inserting within this universe a largely parodic action-movie-plot. It all leads to disaster and catastrophe and has a largely cynical smile on its lips throughout, sarcastically shoving in the viewer's face dozens upon dozens of consumerist products and logos that are inserted into the film in all sorts of clever little ways. Technically, it isn't perfect (the voice acting is mostly at least okay, but for some reason its recording doesn't exactly always fit the environment of the film, it definitely sounds like it was recorded separately, which a lot of animated films are able to disguise, if any of what I just said makes any sense), but the animation very well fits the story, style, and concept, and the writing is witty and hilarious. It's so entertaining the flaws are almost completely overshadowed and what lies before us is a superb satirical comedy that only runs at around 17 minutes.

In a city made completely of corporate logos and branding, two cops shoot the breeze until they spot a fugitive from justice and give chase leading to a cataclysmic conclusion.

Whether or not it is intended as a commentary on the nature of American "culture" (and I think it is), this is a remarkably well made short film that mixes clever ideas with a real understanding of the genre that they are using as a vehicle to their satire. To deal with the surface first – this film is very clever in the way it utilises brands and logos in every aspect of the world it creates. Not all of them will be recognisable but the design of them will make them unmistakable as brands even if the names escape you. It is startling how many you will recognise and, while some have complained that the film is little more than a game of "spot the brand", I did think that the high hit-rate was perhaps part of the point and it was a point well made.

If the film was only a cleverly use series of logos then perhaps this may have been a valid point, but the short goes onto to spoof American movies and culture by delivering all this in the middle of a high-octane crime thriller where everything goes up to 11 and, if it can be destroyed in glorious Technicolor, then it is. It gets this spot on and shows a real understanding of the genre. OK the Tarantino-esque chat is a little obvious but past this the direction and framing of the shots and "camera" movements could all be taken straight out of many blockbuster action movies – movies perhaps that are accused of product-placement with their cars, watches, drinks etc etc. In this way the film actually engages beyond "spot the logo" and "isn't America morally bankrupt?" because it delivers an exciting action short with plenty of movement and style.

I really was surprised by how enjoyable it was. I would have liked it to have had a bit more teeth in regards the satirical aspect to it but this part still did just about work for me. Beyond it though I can understand why some did see it as all style and logos because the logos are used really well and the style is genre-perfect. A very clever short film that deserves credit for not wallowing in the smartness of its idea or for being snide or acerbic in its commentary.

It's no mean feat incorporating all those different logos, essentially laborious fruits of graphic design artists, giving those creations their proverbial 15 minutes by creating this hodgepodge that pays homage to the Hollywood staple of action-adventure romp, cop-buddy movies, and most of all, those disaster flicks that depicts a series of misfortunes that hit a fictionalized version of Tinseltown all happening in a span of a day with a pair of bungling Michelin mascots seen covering their police beat.

Though this 2D animation can be considered rough on the edges, it befits the aesthetic conceit of making it look like a collage awash with pop culture images with a soundtrack and musical score that succinctly captures the broad array of moods explored throughout. It is a severely violent animated catastro-vaganza that's never short on both visual and ironic humor.

All flash, not much substance; a sort of an inbred love-child of pop and postmodernist art. This 16-minute-plus film addresses the disdain felts towards the by-products of American brand of capitalism, everything that can be considered as unhealthy, garish, flamboyant, and ostentatious, and who better tackle that than the French, the people who pride themselves as having introduced the cinematic medium to the world. And by using Los Angeles as the setting for the film, home of the most prominent cinema and television industry in the whole world and dumping all those global capitalist brands and appropriated corporate mascots such as the ubiquitous McDonald's clown embodying the angst of somebody who feels more and more estranged by the fast pace of the ever-expanding universe he's in, it accomplishes in becoming a sheer escapist fantasy that's ridicules something, but it's certain that no one can ever feel slighted by such a gesture.

My rating: A-flat.

After about two minutes of this, I was starting to look out for which logos weren't there. To be fair, it takes aan even swipe at the global branding industry and not just the American one, but that doesn't really do much to alleviate the repetitiveness of the project - even if a police chase is introduced to liven things up; there's some flirting that "only tickles for a little while", and we even have an earthquake. The writers needed to remember that just because you swear a lot, it doesn't make it funny and I was a bored with this quite early. It is cleverly structured and quickly paced, effectively reminding us of just how pervasive advertising and marketing are in our culture, and the sight of Ronald McDonald with an Uzi 9mm does raise a smile but otherwise it's a noisy nothing special, I'm afraid, that's far too long and labours it's point. I know - Starfleet Command isn't there....