Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts (2025) review
Typically, this is the category that can offer the most variety. Animated Shorts are often have a more indie-minded approach, using different mediums and taking bold steps to tell unique stories outside the length of a feature. For a change, there are no animated shorts from the States, which is welcome when considering the Academy should take recognize more international artists. That could also explain why two of the nominees, both stop-motion, include nonchalant full frontal male nudity.
Below are my thoughts on each nominee, from the Least to the Best:
WANDER TO WONDER
The weirdest of the five nominees is the 13-minute “Wander to Wonder,” a co-production between four countries: France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and The Netherlands. I just wish it was the kind of weird I could admire or at least get on board with. What happens when the host (Neil Salvage playing Uncle Gilly) of a fictional albeit beloved 80s children’s show suddenly dies? His three beloved puppets (Amanda Lawrence’s Mary, Terence Dunn’s Billybud, and Toby Jones’ Fumbleton) are left to fend for themselves in his DIY studio and attempt to understand their purpose in the world. Directed by Nina Gatz (who teamed with Simon Cartwright, Daan Bakker, and Stienette Bosklopper to write the screenplay), the story takes a bizarre turn when these six-inch puppets are actually revealed to be miniature humans wearing furry costumes. With no one to provide for them, the trio must determine how to survive in an unsupervised world. There are emotional and stir-crazy moments and a descent into Lord of the Flies madness as the little stop-motion characters grasp for humanity. Gantz has a knack for creativity with a detailed production design, but the whole thing doesn’t quite come together in any compelling or absorbing way.
RATING: **
BEAUTIFUL MEN
Belgian animator Nicolas Keppens’ “Beautiful Men” wrote and directed this comedic 18-minute short set in a foggy Istanbul where three follicly-challenged brothers check in to a hotel. One of them, Steven (Tom Dewispelaere), doesn’t realize he made a mistake until he visits the nearby world-renowned hair transplant center and finds out the reservation he made was just for him when it was supposed to be for all three of them. There’s no chance of securing two additional appointments either. Now he’s got to figure out how he’s going to break the news to his brothers, Koen (Peter De Graef) and Bart (Peter Van den Begin) Bart), and also how they’ll decide which of them will keep the sole appointment. They’ve traveled long distances to get here; it’s got to be more than a vanity thing. It turns out that each of them is plagued by their own fears and anxieties: isolation, intimacy, and mortality. Inevitably, the message is that changing our outward appearance doesn’t deal with whatever we need to work on within. The flawed characters are rendered in fluid stop-motion set in impeccably detailed environments. However, there’s a consistent malaise throughout that prevents a true connection that this story deserves.
RATING: **1/2
YUCK!
The title refers to human kissing or at least how young children view the intimate act. We all remember where “cooties” comes from; that point in our past when witnessing such a shameful personal act (or even thinking about it) brings to mind labels like “pervert.” What if there was an outward way of alerting anyone that you were ready for a kiss? In Loïc Espuche’s 13-minute “Yuck!” (or “Beurk!” in French), lips glow a glittery red-pink when characters are ready to kiss. This is the world inhabited by young Léo (Noé Chabbat) and Lucie (Katell Varvat) and the peers they hang out with one summer. They witness an older couple looking longingly into each other’s eyes with glowing lips. They also see a younger couple playing tonsil hockey by the water slide. The soccer players watching highlights on their phone are getting unusually close. While Léo, Lucie, and their friends think all of this is so gross, a couple of them begin to feel their own natural urges and the shame is crippling. “Yuck!” touches on peer pressure and the need to conform. No one wants to be excluded or seen as an Other. We’d rather sabotage our chance at joy than be be humiliated. Should we listen to what the world says is “wrong” or go with our own feelings? “Yuck!” deals with these topics and questions in a delightfully whimsical manner, while also examining hypocrisy and courage.
RATING: ***
IN THE SHADOW OF THE CYPRESS
This 20-minute short, co-directed by Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani, is a beautifully crafted tale that touches on post-traumatic stress disorder, shame, guilt, acceptance, and sacrifice. Using a minimalist design style with a watercolor approach, the dialogue-free “In the Shadow of the Cypress” centers on a fractured father-and-daughter relationship that comes together for a common goal. The father is a former sea captain haunted by the war, and we’re aware of this through the use of shadows, imagery, and quick cuts to his traumatic past. He lives with his adult daughter in a remote seaside home, and at the start of the short, we see how she is now ready to leave him after tolerating his irritable outbursts, which lead to property destruction and self-harm. One day she discovers an enormous beached whale in need of assistance. This unites both of them in new ways as they desperately work to keep the creature alive and somehow send him back to sea. But the father’s internal demons will flair hotter than ever before the pair are able to succeed with their mission. The textured color cel animation is stripped down to lines, communicating fractured emotions, especially from within the father’s mind, which becomes a juxtaposition of the surreal depictions of emotional strife occurring around him. The short doesn’t offer a neat conclusion of reconciliation or forgiveness, but rather, the veteran sea captain’s last-ditch effort to save the whale winds up becoming an act of acceptance and sacrifice. The only way to move forward is finally letting go of everything behind him.
RATING: ***
MAGIC CANDIES
Dong-Dong (voiced by Haruto Shima) seems content to play marbles on his own, accompanied by his dog, Gusuri, but when he glances to the other side of the park and sees his peers playing together on the playground, there’s an identifiable longing. Still, he maintains his content composure. One day, a shopkeeper sells the boy a handful of marble-looking candies, and when he tries one of them back at his apartment, where he lives with his father (Ikkei Wattanabe), he starts to hear the voice of his sofa. He tries another candy and winds up having a revealing conversation with Gusuri (Kazuhiro Yamaji). Another candy calls him outside to the voice of the autumn leaves that blow around him. A pink candy finds him visited by the voice of his dear late grandmother. Using detailed stop-motion, director Daisuke Nishio and screenwriter Ichiro Takano adapt Heena Baek’s book Magic Candies here, a 22-minute fantasy tale that provides its protagonist a chance to see what is around him in a new light and maybe view the ones who love him with a new pair of eyes as well. Dong-Dong comes to a better understanding of the world around him and even a little more confidence in himself.
RATING: ***1/2
