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2022 Animated Short Oscar Analysis

2022 was not a great year for animated shorts, which reflected on the Academy itself. Their slate includes one stop-motion film and a couple of foreign efforts, but the overall slate ended up being on the weaker end of things. The only children’s flick on the slate is the best of the bunch while the others range from good to just solid. There is an abundant emphasis on visuals over storytelling in this year’s slate, which was highly problematic.

My Ranking of the Nominees:

5. My Year of Dicks

I do not dislike any of this year’s nominees, but I also don’t love the majority of them. Case in point, My Year of Dicks. This film does benefit from strong visuals, an interesting chapter structure to it and memorable live-action segments, but it suffers in the script department. It is about the sexual awakening of a teenage girl, thus it’s very much limited in its appeal. It felt too personal for the director herself, which is exactly an issue here. Again, it’s not a bad movie, but it gets this last spot due to its lack of universality and/or stronger storytelling.

4. The Flying Sailor

When a nearby ship explodes, a sailor is launched on an unexpected existential voyage in this surprisingly disappointing short film from the great National Film Board of Canada. Yes, there is their signature beautiful and artistic animation on display here with gorgeous watercolor effects being particularly strong, but the film lacks in terms of storytelling, characterization and emotion. It deals with a real historical event, but it failed to imbue it with a heart, which is an issue for what essentially should be a tragedy story.

3. Ice Merchants

Every day, a father and his son jump with a parachute from their steep cold house attached to a cliff, to go to the village on the ground, far away where they sell the ice they produce daily. That is a very intriguing premise behind this Portuguese short that ended up being much less interesting than you’d expect judging by said premise. The animation is gorgeous, the score is great and the overall atmosphere is palpably intense, but it’s a film that is also rather repetitive in its structure and nowhere near as moving as it should have been.

2. An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It

This Australian stop-motion animated short is the second best in this lineup due to a variety of reasons. One is its inventive story that is quite memorable and fun. The other is the eerie tone that made it quite intense. The stop-motion here is gorgeous and some of its details were well used for plot purposes and suspense. It’s a film that was too postmodernist in its ending and too telegraphed in its final revelation, but it’s undeniably hugely original and for that it deserves a lot of credit.

1. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

By far the best animated short of this year is The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. It is clearly not for everybody as its inspirational dialogue can prove to be exhausting for those more cynical viewers. But for everyone who is into old-fashioned, charming family entertainment, this one is bound to satisfy. The animation is simply gorgeous and it genuinely resembled a moving illustration. The voice acting was top-notch and the score was brilliant. The finale was particularly heartwarming. It’s an instant holiday classic due to its undeniably timeless appeal. No movie on this list could compare to this charmer, which is why it is my number one choice.

Films That Should Have Been Nominated:

Goodbye Jerome! – It’s such a shame that this French short wasn’t nominated as its premise is fantastic and the execution is just as strong. It’s an important movie thematically speaking as it deals with letting go and dealing with your pain in a healthy way. It is also accompanied by gorgeous visuals.

Black Slide – Another unfortunate Oscar snub, Black Slide also deals with death, but particularly with grief and the various stages of it. Why the Academy chose to ignore the universal theme of death this year is puzzling to me, but this is one very moving, powerfully edited and directed film that is consistently grounded and sophisticated.

Catopolis – Catopolis isn’t great as it could get monotonous and repetitive in its constant barrage of violence. However, it is great in showcasing that violence is glorified through media these days. The animation is also very vivid and unique while the overall atmosphere is quite authentic.