Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts (2026) review
This year’s five nominees in the Best Animated Short category show an impressive range of creative variety and style. It is once again proof that anything can happen with Animation, a medium that allows for unquantifiable possibilities. Here are passion projects that have been labored over for years, and there is something to appreciate in each nominee in this category. All of these shorts have spent the past year touring the festival circuit, and earning Oscar nominations is a treat for us, as it gives them an opportunity to reach a wider audience.
Below are my thoughts on all five nominees, ranked from my favorite to my least favorite…
BUTTERFLY
While working on her animated feature “The Crossing”, French writer/director Florence Miailhe came up with the idea of “Butterfly (Papillon)”, as she reflected how her father used to talk about French swimmer, Alfred Nakache. As she studied him, Miailhe learned he died at age 83 after swimming in the port city of Cerbère and was moved by the life he led. Combining vibrant colors with shimmering movement within a striking painterly style (strongly reminiscent of the works of Paul Gaugin), where each purposeful brushstroke feels like a tribute, Miailhe frames the 15-minute story around Nakache’s final swim, showing an old man taking a solo swim. The movement and sound of the water conjure memories for the swimmer, bringing him back to his childhood. We see how he initially had a fear of water as a young boy, swimming with his mother and siblings in the ocean, then years later, he became the North African swim champ of Constantine. He goes on to compete in the Nazi-run 1936 Berlin Olympics, building camaraderie with fellow swimmers and developing a specialty for the butterfly swim. He marries, and the two have a daughter, but they were deported to Auschwitz in 1944, and in a moving montage of striking images, we learn Nakache became the sole survivor of his family. Miailhe returns to the old man, transforming seagulls into swimmers and teammates into dolphins, as magical imagery offers comfort. Nominated for a César earlier this year (French Academy Award), “Papillon” is produced by Oscar-winner Ron Dyens (“Flow”) and features beautiful music by Pierre Oberkampt. On an artistic and emotional level, it is the clear winner, and I’d gladly give Miaihle her Oscar.
RATING: ****
THE RETIREMENT PLAN
Despite this 7-minute short from Irish writer/director John Kelly hitting a bit too close to home for my liking, I still thoroughly enjoyed “Retirement Plan”. The story finds middle-aged Ray (voiced by Domnhall Gleason, who also serves as executive producer) fantasizing about all the things he’ll do and finally get to when he retires. All those unfinished projects, unread books, and every email he’s flagged over the years, not to mention all the money he’ll receive from a pension plan he hasn’t yet started. Sadly, very relatable. We hear him say with hopeful promise in his voice, “I’ll travel more” and “I will paraglide”, as well as other pipe dreams that will likely never come to fruition. Let’s face it, most of us are going to work till we die. Kelly employs an engaging line-drawing technique that looks at home in graphic novel form. It’s detailed enough yet wonderfully simple, reflecting his clever storytelling approach. Ray has a sense of humor about it all, evident when he says that once he passes, he’ll make it a point to haunt the sixth-grade classmate who was cruel to him (and probably others). Kelly, who co-wrote the screenplay with Tara Lowell, also edited (one of the short’s strengths) and served as cinematographer, has made a train-of-thought short that feels wholly rewatchable. The story isn’t that deep, but it turns out to be something we can all relate to.
RATING: ***1/2
THE GIRL WHO CRIED PEARLS
Canadian duo Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, of Clyde Henry Productions, were Oscar-nominated in this category for 2007’s “Madame Tutli-Putli” and return with their stop-motion artwork for “The Girl Who Cried Pearls”. They co-wrote the story with Isabelle Mandalian, but were inspired to tell it after a prop necklace fell apart, scattering plastic pearls across the set. The story opens in a lavish Parisian apartment, where we find a young girl’s grandfather (voiced by Colm Feore) telling her a story from his youth, set in early 20th-century Montreal. As a poor boy, he would scavenge the docks, stealing whatever food he could and seeking shelter in an unheated apartment building where he used a peephole to watch a poverty-stricken family. That’s where he finds the titular girl, who lives with her father and cruel stepmother, who is often distraught with sadness, and cries herself to sleep. To his surprise, her tears form into luminescent pearls that roll into the dilapidated walls, which he manages to retrieve and bring to a greedy local pawnbroker who learns from a nearby jeweler the truth about the mysterious pearls. The story is essentially a folktale that touches on loneliness, greed, and the pursuit of money, and it’s richly atmospheric aesthetic that includes hand-sewn costumes and intricately detailed miniature sets. While the paper mache marionette characters are kind of eerie at times, and it takes a bit to get used to their unmoving lips, there’s no denying this is an impressive 17-minute viewing experience.
RATING: ***
FOREVERGREEN
Two Disney veterans, Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears, who’ve worked in the animation and art department for successful features such as “Zootopia” and “Big Hero 6”, team up to write and direct “Forevergreen”, an adorable 13-minute short that centers around an orphaned bear who is nurtured by a caring tree. Their dialogue-free, all-ages story loosely adapts the Prodigal Son and becomes an entertaining, sweet tale of selflessness, ingratitude, and sacrifice. When we’re introduced to the lost bear, he is a scared young cub in need of protection, which is noticed by a tall tree rooted near a chasm in an expansive forest. During a tender and humorous montage, we see the tree care for the bear by providing food and shelter, but, like all children (especially teens), rebellion sets in when the bear comes across a bag of potato chips. The bear follows the scent of the chips back to a human campground on the other side of the chasm, and his naive sniffing around sparks a wildfire that spreads, causing the tree to uproot itself to save the bear. The animation takes charming hand-carved wooden figures and combines them with wonderful stop-motion and 3D-generated frames, and places them in a beautifully rendered natural environment. While the cartoony character design was kind of distracting for me, the short’s heart is undeniable. At times, the instrumental score by Josh Garrels and Isaac Wardell (both known for their nontraditional Christian-themed music), a mashup of folk and orchestration, can be a bit overwhelming. Nevertheless, the sole U.S. nominee is a warm and endearing watch, and the inclusion of John 15:13 at the end credits underscores the allegorical goal here.
RATING: ***
THE THREE SISTERS
No, this isn’t an adaptation of the play by Russian playwright Anton Chekov. “The Three Sisters” comes from Georgia-born, Toronto-based animator Konstantin Bronzit (who directed the 2009 Oscar-nominated short “Lavatory—Love Story”), who wrote and directed this amusing 14-minute tale that revolves around the titular siblings who reside on a sparse island (lacking greenery) in the middle of the blue ocean. The location is home to three connected houses, each occupied by a sister. They cut a humorously striking image; garbed in drab earth tones, with their hair covered and hanging scarves. One day, a boat comes with its supplies, and in a matter of seconds, its fish is scooped up by bothersome gulls, and their coin purse rolls into the ocean. This forces one of the sisters to move in with the other to rent out her home and recoup their money. Since they’re in the middle of nowhere, who knows how any potential renter would see such an advertisement, but one day a burly sailor arrives, and that changes everything for the ladies. They go out of their way and change their wardrobes to gain his attention by serving him tea and washing the stinky fella’s clothes. Part of the charm of the comedy is Bronzit’s use of 2D animation, and his quirky time advances are shown in days and months. To be honest, there’s not much to it beyond being fun to watch, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
RATING: ***
It is typical for the Animated Shorts to include a couple of ancillary animated shorts when all five are released theatrically in the weeks leading up to the Oscar telecast, which is Sunday, March 15th this year. This year, there is only one included, and among all the animated shorts, this is one I wouldn’t mind seeing expanded into a feature-length film…
EIRU
Ireland’s animation studio Cartoon Saloon has consistently delivered some of the most imaginative and lively animated features, often set in dense fantasy worlds and told in a folktale manner. This is the studio that gave us noteworthy award-winning features, such as “The Secret of Kells”, “Song of the Sea”, and “Breadwinners” (all of which were nominated for Oscars), and the latter was directed by Italian-born, Ireland-based animator Giovanna Ferrari. The 13-minute short “Eiru,” which preceded the Oscar-nominated feature “Little Amélie or the Character of Rain” during its theatrical run in the States, is an enjoyable jolt of energy. The story, written by Ferrari, is a straightforward tale of a female warrior, Eiru (pronounced Air-Oo), who travels to the Earth’s core to find missing water for her village after it disappears from their wells. The scratchy, bold character design and kinetic movement can easily sit alongside features from Cartoon Saloon, while also recalling Genndy Tartakovsky’s prehistoric action series “Primal”. It’s wild and fun, and is easily worthy of a feature-length story or even a series.
RATING: ***
