# World of Tomorrow is the best animated short I've seen in quite some time. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 22, 2016, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-tomorrow-is-the-best-animated-short-ive-seen-in-quite-some-time/743909 "2016-01-22T21:17:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-tomorrow-is-the-best-animated-short-ive-seen-in-quite-some-time/743909/1 "2016-01-22T21:17:23Z")
> [@](#): > > World of Tomorrow is an animated short film by American filmmaker Don Hertzfeldt. Illustrator Julia Pott performs the voice of the short’s lead character, opposite Hertzfeldt’s then-four-year-old niece, who was recorded while drawing and playing. Her spontaneous, natural vocal reactions and questions were then edited into the story to create her character. > World of Tomorrow premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize, his second. Critics were overwhelmingly positive in their reviews, describing the science fiction film as “one of the most satisfying shorts since Chris Marker’s landmark 1962 La Jetee and almost certain to be the highlight of this year’s Sundance, full stop,”[1] “dazzling, enthralling”[2] and “astonishing.”[3] Anybody else seen this? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-tomorrow-is-the-best-animated-short-ive-seen-in-quite-some-time/743909/2 "2016-01-22T21:41:50Z")
Forgot to mention this short is currently on Netflix. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-tomorrow-is-the-best-animated-short-ive-seen-in-quite-some-time/743909/3 "2016-01-22T22:41:42Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Anybody else seen this? I wandered into it unexpectedly on Netflix a few nights ago. Very good, but very sad. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-tomorrow-is-the-best-animated-short-ive-seen-in-quite-some-time/743909/4 "2016-01-22T22:43:54Z")
I also stumbled onto it a few days ago. I didn’t realize then that it’s Don Hertzfeldt but that makes total sense. I thought it was quite good as well. ---
**Author:** ![neofishboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neofishboy/32/444_2.png) [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-tomorrow-is-the-best-animated-short-ive-seen-in-quite-some-time/743909/5 "2016-01-23T00:20:03Z")
[The AV Club](http://www.avclub.com/article/cartoon-about-clone-future-may-be-2015s-best-film-217741) had an article about this last April. I watched it several times on Vimeo and contributed to the Kickstarter for the blu-ray. I was pleasantly surprised to see it show up on Netflix streaming. The first Hertzfeldt I ever saw, “It’s Such a Beautiful Day” is also streaming. Much longer and darker than “World” but also brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-tomorrow-is-the-best-animated-short-ive-seen-in-quite-some-time/743909/6 "2016-01-23T00:20:28Z")
I’ve seen it twice in the theater, and since it’s a nominee for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short, it will be making the rounds in the Oscar Shorts roadshow that begins next Friday, too (where I’ll very happily see it again). It is a film that is perversely bizarre, very dark and sad, and also inspired and quite wonderful. This is Hertzfeldt’s second nod (the first was for his brilliant **[Rejected](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSb-nV8l2QY)**) and while I hope he wins, it’s probably too weird for the Academy, who prefers the broader sentiment of something like the fine-but-conventional Pixar short that’s competing against it. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-tomorrow-is-the-best-animated-short-ive-seen-in-quite-some-time/743909/7 "2016-01-23T00:53:40Z")
[Billy’s Balloon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jksRQcI9NA) is one of the most sublime things ever created and is by far my favorite Hertzfeldt work. I have watched it hundreds of times and it never fails to reduce me to tears. It is the only video that I carry around with me at all times and I will do so until the day I die. ETA: I look forward to seeing _World of Tomorrow_ ASAP. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-tomorrow-is-the-best-animated-short-ive-seen-in-quite-some-time/743909/8 "2016-01-23T07:51:04Z")
Hertzfeldt is a rare bird. He can simultaneously appeal to the meme spouting “lol so randumb” internet generation, art house critics, and animation aficionados. Check out [It’s Such a Beautiful Day](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_Such_a_Beautiful_Day_%28film%29) if you haven’t already. That’s his magnum opus. World of Tomorrow reminded me a lot of Portal. A monotone female pseudo-human giving irreverent philosophical monologues, casual dark comedy, talking cubes, falling in love with inanimate objects, self awareness of genre tropes, lots of white space, all the energy lines and pulses, plus literal portals…might just be me. Though great, it seemed off compared to his other stuff. As if it were targeted at some perceived millennial taste or zeitgeist. Like The Avengers. Something about the “quirky” comedy, I just can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe it seemed too polished and clean, like a film made by actual professionals, whereas his other stuff seemed to be made in a shed out in the woods somewhere, like if Ted Kaczynski made a cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-tomorrow-is-the-best-animated-short-ive-seen-in-quite-some-time/743909/9 "2016-01-23T15:59:57Z")
\*World of Tomorrow \*was fantastic, although I don’t know if anything can top the _It’s Such A Beautiful Day_ trilogy for me. Hertzfeldt has the ability to make you feel depressed and inspired simultaneously. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-tomorrow-is-the-best-animated-short-ive-seen-in-quite-some-time/743909/10 "2016-01-24T15:27:52Z")
Felt like a very short episode of Black Mirror. I could see Charlie Brooker buying it and trying to expand the experience to 45 minutes or so. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-tomorrow-is-the-best-animated-short-ive-seen-in-quite-some-time/743909/11 "2016-01-31T04:34:24Z")
I just watched it and it was beautiful. Thanks for the heads up. Now to watch more of his work. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-tomorrow-is-the-best-animated-short-ive-seen-in-quite-some-time/743909/12 "2016-01-31T12:31:56Z")
I didn’t see this thread and accidentally started a new one. I really enjoyed it. Especially the dry humor. Also you may not be aware, it was just nominated for an Oscar. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-tomorrow-is-the-best-animated-short-ive-seen-in-quite-some-time/743909/13 "2016-02-01T20:33:38Z")
Saw this as part of the shorts roadshow yesterday. Fantastic. Funny, sad, compelling, and original. I haven’t seen his recent stuff, but his earlier films were mini masterpieces. The Pixar short that will probably win was utterly forgettable by comparison.