Sundance Shorts 2007: Animation (2007)

Five animations from the US, UK, and Canada ranging in style from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow to Ratatouille to South Park: Ask the Insects (US, 8 min, graphically processed biometrics show poetry in motion to the accompaniment of poetry celebrating biodiversity, 4 stars), Der Ostwind [The Eastwind] (US, 10 min, Red Baron meets Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, 4.5 stars), In Passing (UK, 5 min, urban surroundings portrayed and discussed as a Terminator-like cyberorganic heads-up display, 5 stars), One Rat Short (US, 10 min, Ratatouille meets Star Wars with a superb story, animation, emotion, and music, 5 stars), and The Tragic Story of Nling or The Convenient Thinness of A Paper Life (Canada, 15 min, South Park in Hobotown with Squigglevision bluescreen -- actually frame-by-frame laser-printed black-and-white animation of a fallen human/donkey society taken to alcohol, 3 stars). Overall 4 stars.