Making it two in a row, FOR THE BIRDS won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short for this simple and quite funny cartoon. Like GERI'S GAME, the short was a technical experiment. This time the Pixar wizards were testing realistic feathers. And also like GERI'S GAME, the technical never gets in the way of story.
A flock of small, plump birds begin to perch on a telephone wire. Then a large bird lands on the telephone pole and dopily waves to the feathered clique, who can't help but make fun of her. However, their rudeness finally lays their true personalities bare in the end.
Truly past technical constraints at this point, the film, directed by Ralph Eggleston, is bright and colorful. The design work nicely conveys the personalities of the characters. Four of the birds have names — Chipper, Bully, Snob and Neurotic. That says it all. With a nice subtly, one can easily pick out which bird is which via their actions. It’s that kind of attention to detail that makes the film special. A lesser filmmaker would have made the flock of birds one collective personality, however Eggleston adds nuance to each of the callous feathered foursome. FOR THE BIRDS is a crowd pleaser that proves that when it comes to story sometimes, simplicity can work wonders.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
