Simply A Masterpiece

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This short was nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short. There will be spoilers ahead: As the short opens, it's clear that technology has taken over even the job of the Grim Reaper, who gets an alert by radio to collect a client. A con man/priest eavesdrops in order to beat Death to the spot. He runs dead and his motorcycle off the road and comes to the home of the client, who is a miserly type with a red sock filled with notes and coins.The priest/con man convinces the old man he needs something to guarantee he'll go to heaven by building a contraption to "take" him to heaven. The old man hands over the red sock of money and then there's a knock on the door.The ending is hilarious and I won't spoil that here. The title of the short is actually a rather sly joke which becomes apparent once you see the short. This one is on a DVD collection of nominated shorts and is worth tracking down and watching. Most recommended.

The idea of this animated short, nominated for an Academy Award in 2007, intrigued me.As a New York City resident, I am a frequent observer of pigeons. I'm also a dedicated Francophile so I like anything set in France. And the protagonist is a grizzled older man with a clutterbug bent. As someone who works with older people in their homes, I found this an appealing combination.The super-short short is indeed charming, though it has nothing to do with the urban birds. The notion of a dispatcher for death was quite clever, though the central focus -- a charlatan priest trying to make a buck off mortality - seemed less fresh an idea.Nevertheless, I enjoyed the huckster's resonant French, and it sure was interesting to encounter a French Grim Reaper, whose parting words to le vieux were classic.The film faltered in its final frames, when it resorted to a weak and clichéd attempt at humor when the old man locked himself into the bathosphere. Still, it appears this director has lots of talent. I'll be interested to see where he goes from here.

Even Pigeons Go to Heaven (2007)*** (out of 4) Animated French short has a priest running a motorcycle off the road so that he can reach the home of a sinning old man. The priest does all he can to get the old man to change his ways and get to Heaven but something bad happens once the motorcycle does arrive. I'm certainly not going to give away what happens but this is a pleasant little short that has some nice laughs from start to finish. The CG animation looks very good and I really enjoyed all the facial movements the characters had. The detail in these movements really caught my attention. We're not talking Pixar level stuff here but it's still very good. The story is also quite special as we've seen this type of "save your soul" stuff before yet director Samuel Tourneux adds some nice touches and really makes this thing his own.

Meme les pigeons vont au paradis is one of five Oscar-nominated films in the Best Animated Short category. In this entry from France, an old man with a red bag of lots of gold coins is visited by a priest who tells him to sign something in order to insure his entry into heaven. He also brings a machine that gives the old man a "preview" of what the afterlife will look like. I'll stop there and mention that there are many amusing characteristics in the short's brief running time that abounds in the dialogue exchange between the two characters. And the way the whole thing ends is a hilarious shocking surprise! This was an excellent short that highly deserves it's important nomination that was announced yesterday. If if wins, I'd be very glad indeed!