War Is Over! (2023)

War Is Over! Review

War Is Over! is a 2023 animated short film directed by Dave Mullins. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

Set in an alternate World War I reality, where a senseless war continues, two soldiers from opposite sides of the conflict play an amusing game of chess. This film was directed by Dave Mullins, a Pixar veteran. And you can definitely see that visual style and feel of Pixar present throughout this very moving, but somewhat slight story. We have seen similar animated films before, so this one lacked originality.

The chess metaphor was a bit too obvious at the end and that entire third act did not work for me. It was cheesy and unnecessary to include the titular song play over the ending. I would have preferred it silent myself. With that being said, the rest of it worked for me. The chess game the two characters played produced very tender as well as gorgeously animated results. The pigeon was particularly memorable and his death was definitely felt.

The animation is familiar, but polished and beautiful to look at. The movie changing from lightweight to dark in the second half made for an interesting, effective whiplash. I just wished that the ending was stronger. It’s a good movie, but not a great one, so it did not deserve to win an Oscar over ‘Ninety-Five Senses’.

War Is Over! is very well animated, moving and mostly effective, but the ending was a bit rough. It’s a pretty good, but far from great Oscar-winning short.

My Rating – 3.9