# What's Your Favorite Animation Short? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2009, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318 "2009-12-15T04:30:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/1 "2009-12-15T04:30:39Z")
Mine is _Jours de Plaine_. The one I am linking to one Youtube is not very good in clarity. I don’t care because I have a better copy on tape. It never fails to hypnotise me. I don’t understand French, but this short always leaves me on the verge of tears, in a good way. The beauty of the colored pencil-type sketches morphing over the ethereal singing, as it exhibits a deep love of the history of one’s home. It transfixes me everytime. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghUIkh1rWEg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghUIkh1rWEg) I also would like to find an animated short that was on a tape I rented. The short was called _Hilary_. I didn’t like it at first, but I watched it a couple of times, and it grew on me. It’s a stop-motion flick about a guy telling a boy a bedtime story, and it’s full of dark angst. Youtube has about a ten second clip of it, but that’s all. I’d like to find the whole thing somewhere online if I could. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q87xLGQgQrc&NR=1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q87xLGQgQrc&NR=1) Anyone else have shorts to share? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/2 "2009-12-15T06:22:05Z")
Betty Boop’s [\*Snow White](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTYEz0cYWG8)\* Wallace & Gromit’s _The Wrong Trousers_ Chuck Jones’ [_Duck Amuck_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce8J92AEfCs) Frederic Back’s magnificent _The Man who Planted Trees_ ([part 1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MbosrkVYPU) of 3) Jan Svankmajer’s _Dimensions of Dialogue_ ([part 1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdfCOCIv_DU) of 3) Tex Avery’s _[Little Rural Riding Hood](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suk9miYlp6k)_ ---
**Author:** ![Negative\_Lite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Negative\_Lite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Negative_Lite)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/3 "2009-12-15T11:56:45Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Frederic Back’s magnificent _The Man who Planted Trees_ ([part 1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MbosrkVYPU) of 3) Ooh, yes, good pick. I like the classic Fleischer Bros Superman shorts, [this one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b55dgTgcZf4) might be the best of the bunch. And the glorious [Flowers and Trees](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTuIb7BIFqk) which won the first Oscar for this category. ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/4 "2009-12-15T12:15:59Z")
[Please say something](http://www.davidoreilly.com/work/pss) by David O’Reilly. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/5 "2009-12-15T13:43:36Z")
What’s Opera, Doc? Duck Amuck Feed the Kitty The Little Lion Hunter Tex Avery’s [Symphony in Slang](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot92Yfovvvg) The Wrong Trousers ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/6 "2009-12-15T15:09:00Z")
I’ve always liked [Balance](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91bNp7HJolE&feature=related) and [Fallen Art](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7HMz1WKkso&feature=related). Yeah, I have a twisted sense of aesthetic. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/7 "2009-12-15T15:28:17Z")
The company I work for distributes a lot of shorts. When I started, the first film everyone insist I watch is an animated short called “Down the Road.” I’ve spent the last couple months plowing through the rest of their library, but so far nothing I’ve seen has been half as good as this one; it’s the best thing we have. We showed it a free screening in the neighborhood a couple weeks ago and it got a huge response. (Sorry, I looked for a copy online somewhere–don’t tell my boss–but I couldn’t find one. But here’s the [trailer](http://www.indieflix.com/film/down-the-road-20643/).) ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/8 "2009-12-15T15:35:34Z")
“The Band Concert” (Disney-1935) ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/9 "2009-12-15T17:29:48Z")
Too many, too many. Pixar’s _Presto_ is my favorite recent one. Here’s one you may not have seen, _[Fallen Art](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7HMz1WKkso)_, dark and humorous by Polish animator Tomek Baginski. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/10 "2009-12-15T17:52:26Z")
Duck Twacy: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH6hcVRjJuA) ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@Mike\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Fun)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/11 "2009-12-15T18:08:16Z")
[The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmSbdvzbOzY) ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/12 "2009-12-15T18:15:35Z")
[Kiwi!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUUx5FdySs) Although I love all of Pixar’s shorts, this student’s thesis in animation moves me to tears every time I watch it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/13 "2009-12-15T18:28:25Z")
Aside from the the big commercial cartoons (otherwise Chuck Jones would win multiple times over – he’s already directed at least three of the ones in this thread), I like: **The Critic** (1963)-- [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otPkk1sUFkI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otPkk1sUFkI) Mel Brooks does the monologue. “I think this is very symbolic. It’s symbolic of _JUNK_.” Directed by Ernest Pinkhoff **Edifice** – a short cartoon from the 1960s that tells the History of Civilization in the form of a building. I can’t find it now, but it’s been on the internet before. “Allah be praised! I’ve invented the _zero_!” “What?” “Nothing, nothing.” ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/14 "2009-12-15T18:57:35Z")
I forgot this: [Time Out](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq37UBL8lII) by Estonian weirdo Priit Pärn. Amazing stuff. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/15 "2009-12-15T19:13:48Z")
And of course always a classic: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQkWrZw05P4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQkWrZw05P4) ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/16 "2009-12-15T19:17:11Z")
I have no access to the yubetube right now, but there’s a Woody Woodpecker cartoon I’ve seen a couple dozen times in my youth that’s a classic. Woody’s trying to go over the Niagra Falls in a barrel and the poor guy trying to stop him gets antogonized the whole time. The best sequence is where he’s shipped off somewhere in the barrel and hurries back to Niagra saying “mush” the whole way. First on a dog sled, then in a plane, then after knocking a kid off his scooter and making him cry, then finally stomping past a couple who are kissing on a bench. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/17 "2009-12-15T21:01:59Z")
Hmmm…counting “short” as “under half an hour,” I’m actually probably going to have to say one of the old [Disney auto safety shorts starring Goofy.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI2rFZOBSUw) It’s never too early to learn about braking distance, even when you’re still in preschool. I’ll second _Kiwi!_ too, of course, though as beautiful and memorable as it is, I prefer cartoons that _don’t_ make me want to blow my head off. ☹ 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/18 "2009-12-15T21:30:46Z")
[**Balance**](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91bNp7HJolE) ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/19 "2009-12-15T23:39:40Z")
No one has mentioned these two classics: [Rabbit of Seville](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvXEElJFR6g) [One Froggy Evening](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvX_TvnBcOU) – For me, this is an amazing cartoon. Not a single line of dialog, but funny as hell. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318/20 "2009-12-16T00:19:50Z")
[Billy’s Balloon](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpc5vgi9zbM) has been making me laugh 'til I cry for 10 years now. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-animation-short/521318.md?page=2)