This is an animated short produced and directed by Glen Keane. There will be spoilers ahead:
The plot of this short is minimal. It follows a boy, his dog and a girl from the time they first cross paths as babies and a puppy through their lives on into young adulthood. Just the barest of plots, a sketch of a story, really, but the animation is so beautifully executed that it carries the short (which, after all, is less than four minutes in any case) and lifts it from the ordinary to the extraordinary.
All three of the principals are fully realized characters and they are almost perpetually in motion. The boy is always running, jumping, tumbling and climbing, with his dog always around often ahead or alongside, occasionally behind and also forever in motion. Not to be outdone, the girl more than holds her own and dances in whatever she does. She is grace and beauty personified.
The two frequently cross paths throughout their lives, with solo activity interspersed between meetings and some symbolic visuals showing up a few times. The girl is seen almost as though she's in flight while dancing and breaks up into a flock of birds at one point.
The ending of the short is almost inevitable and is beautifully done, like everything else in the short. This is just my opinion, of course, but I think this short should at least have been nominated for the Academy Award. The five finalists were all very good shorts, but this was one of the ten shorts shortlisted for nomination and this was just a shade better than one or two of the five nominees. This is available for purchase online and is well worth watching. Most highly recommended.
The plot of this short is minimal. It follows a boy, his dog and a girl from the time they first cross paths as babies and a puppy through their lives on into young adulthood. Just the barest of plots, a sketch of a story, really, but the animation is so beautifully executed that it carries the short (which, after all, is less than four minutes in any case) and lifts it from the ordinary to the extraordinary.
All three of the principals are fully realized characters and they are almost perpetually in motion. The boy is always running, jumping, tumbling and climbing, with his dog always around often ahead or alongside, occasionally behind and also forever in motion. Not to be outdone, the girl more than holds her own and dances in whatever she does. She is grace and beauty personified.
The two frequently cross paths throughout their lives, with solo activity interspersed between meetings and some symbolic visuals showing up a few times. The girl is seen almost as though she's in flight while dancing and breaks up into a flock of birds at one point.
The ending of the short is almost inevitable and is beautifully done, like everything else in the short. This is just my opinion, of course, but I think this short should at least have been nominated for the Academy Award. The five finalists were all very good shorts, but this was one of the ten shorts shortlisted for nomination and this was just a shade better than one or two of the five nominees. This is available for purchase online and is well worth watching. Most highly recommended.