Really Surprised!

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

I absolutely didn't realise this was the first animation to be created and be shown to audiences, until it was recommended by Youtube for me to give this a watch. Even if the speed wasn't on point, there was no sound or we don't hear the characters talking in this short film, it really stood out anyways! I have to say, fairplay to Émile Reynaud for creating this because like, it really is a good introduction to animation that we know today and the fact, even if it was plain and simple, it really is eye-catching plus interesting. This little short would be good to watch if you wanna learn baby steps of early animation works or have nothing to do but wanna try to watch something new. I give this a 8/10!

If I had watched this short movie, I'd never have thought that it comes from the year 1892. I've seen way worse animation from 75 years later. It's just so different than everything else that was shot before it. It's considerably longer and people must have reacted with surprise when they held a colorful drawing in their hands and then they see something quite similar moving and telling a story.All the characters are nicely animated, especially their dresses, gestures and face expressions. It's the funny story of a girl between two men. The fact that they all look a lot like ghosts was possibly not intended, but fits the whole moonlight setting nicely. Which is the right one for her? Go see for yourself.

Charles Emile Reynaud is often given little credit for his pioneering of the Animation genre. For Shame! The first animated film to be projected, "Pauvre Pierrot" (In English, "Poor Pete"), is a simple, yet important classic, in the fact that not only is it the first animated film ever made, it is also one of the first films in history to have an actual story featured in it.The plot, while simple, is noted because it can actually relate to modern times. Pete, the main character, is obviously in love with Colombine, an evidently pretty girl. He brings her flowers and even sings for her. However, her current lover, Arlequin, isn't too keen to that idea. He deviously scares Pete away, taking his drink as well. It was true even back then: Nice guys never get the girl.While it may only be five minutes, "Pauvre Pierrot" is a timeless classic, and should be given much more credit, along with it's amazing creator, Charles Emile Reynaud.

J. Stuart Blackton's 'Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906)' is generally held as the first animated film. Indeed, it was the first animated film made on motion-picture film, but such history is nevertheless unfair to Émile Reynaud, who, fourteen years earlier, was projecting moving animated images to delighted audiences. 'Pauvre Pierrot (1892)' is one of the director's few surviving works (most were, in a fit of frustration, discarded into the Seine by the director himself), and such a colourful and charming curio remains a delight to behold.Reynaud animated each frame himself – 500 in total (36 metres long) – and extended the film to 12-15 minutes by personally manipulating the picture-bands during the projection. The story told is a simple one: Pierrot and Arlequin compete for the romantic attention of Colombine, a beautiful maiden. One potential suitor attempts to charm the good lady with a lute performance, but his competitor goes one better with a baton or sword of some sort.Reynaud's moving picture show, billed as "Théâtre Optique" or "Pantomimes Lumineuses," included a triple-bill of three films: 'Pauvre Pierrot,' 'Un bon bock (1892),' and 'Le Clown et ses chiens (1892).' One contemporary newspaper reported that Reynaud "creates characters with expressions and movements so perfect that they give the complete illusion of life." The show was initially a great success, but, in 1918, Reynaud died a poor man. His delicate work, prone to rapid degradation, could not compete with the Lumière brothers' cinematograph, which depicted real-life, and not merely an animated approximation.