Honolulu Weekly

Kahala 8 / Even if the Academy Awards hadn’t bumped its Best Picture nominees up to 10 this year, many critics agree that Pixar’s Up would have made the list. It’s only the second time that an Oscar nod went to an animated film (the first being Disney’s Beauty and the Beast in 1991), but it’s a sign of things to come. Animated films have surpassed many of Hollywood’s more mainstream fare in terms of sophistication, and it’s a pleasure to see Up take its rightful place away from the kiddie table.

This Friday, the Kahala 8 begins a showcase for the other underappreciated category, that of the short film. The showcase includes two separate programs of this year’s award-nominated shorts, one for films and the other for animation. The selection from the animated category features five tales that prove you don’t need a bloated runtime to make your point. Yes, we’re looking at you James Cameron.

The influence of the Pixar juggernaut is apparent in the first frame of Fabrice Joubert’s French Roast, a short from France set in a Parisian café, where a stuffy businessman realizes too late that he’s forgotten his wallet. Joubert wisely lets his characters command the action without dialogue. As an animator for two of Aardman Animations’ films, including the Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Joubert knows how to get the most out of his scene. This is made more remarkable by the one-room setting. It’s not a big story, or even an important one, but French Roast is charming in its simplicity, and dazzling in the care it put into the animation.

In The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte), there’s a hint of Up and its storyline of growing old, complete with another touching tribute to loves gone by. In this case, the surviving woman is ready to be reunited with her husband, but a meddling doctor begins a life -or-death chase, complete with an appearance by Death. There’s even a throwback to the chase scenes of Scooby-Doo, where every exit has another entrance on the other side of a hallway. The Lady and the Reaper from Spain is a fun commentary on the usually dour right-to-die debate.

Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty from Ireland has a different take on growing old gracefully, with a seemingly kindly old woman telling her reluctant grandchild a bedtime story. Switching between 2D and 3D animation, the woman, terrifically voiced by Kathleen O’Rourke, restructures the beloved tale to make a point on the usefulness of the elderly. Darkly comic in tone, it’s a witty, wicked tale that deserves its nomination.

The disappointment in the bunch, surprisingly, comes from the other animated powerhouse across the pond–Nick Park and Aardman Animations. A Matter of Loaf and Death takes its flagship creations Wallace and Gromit in the longest short of the program, clocking in at 29 minutes. The problem comes from the sense of that we’ve seen this all before, and we have. With little-to-no care for set-up or surprise taken, this fourth outing of a man and his dog are a little too familiar to feel fresh. It won’t bore, and the visuals still prove fun, but with the disappointing turnout from 2006 underappreciated Flushed Away, which led to a rift between Aardman and Dreamworks studio, this project rests on old laurels instead of trying something new.

The Kahala 8’s program has bolstered the animated program with three additional shorts, including Pixar’s Mostly Cloudy (the short coupled with Up in both its theatrical and DVD releases), along with The Kinematograph (Poland) and Runaway (Canada). All of these releases are suitable for family audiences, but depending on parenting preferences, it might be wise to exit the theater before the final Oscar-nominated film shows.

While Argentina’s Logorama is a visual feast, it is most certainly not for kids (the program will show a title card before this short, warning parents of its graphic violence and language, choose wisely, for they’re not kidding). Showing a Los Angeles taken over by product placement and advertising, it’s a shocking commentary on the pervasiveness of consumer culture, and frankly, a little embarrassing how many of the more than 2,000 corporate logos are immediately recognizable. In the film, the cops are all Michelin Men who receive a call about maniacal clown on a homicidal rampage. Better witnessed than described, Logorama is violent, crude and technically brilliant, and is more proof that cartoons aren’t just for kids.