Highly Overrated But Still Good

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

In this Animatrix short, the debut of Takeshi Koike (who went on to direct popular anime Redline), Dan, an athlete threatens to break through the digital rain and wake up in the real world. He runs so fast, attempting to break his 9.8 second 100-metre dash, his muscles burst but he keeps going, desperate agents watching every step.Dan does manage to wake up in his gel-pod, but is quickly put to sleep again (I guess the machines force-fed him the blue pill). Back in the Matrix he's crippled and the agents are satisfied. But he breaks the rules of being a cripple and manages to stand. It seems Dan is unknowingly realizing that there is no spoon.A good short, if a little to sparsely drawn.

On the Animatrix disc, this is the sixth short. I'm sorry to say, but this is my least favorite. I can appreciate that the animation is interesting and different. The concept is definitely deserving of attention. The voice acting is very good. However, with all the time spent on back-story, and an execution that just did not grab me(which I am willing to grant may have more to do with personal tastes), this just doesn't seem that great, especially considering what the other ones are like. This just comes off as having wasted a lot of potential. The visual style is like a grotesque caricature, and it is similar to Aeon Flux. Strangely hypnotic. It is unpleasant to watch, one bit in particular, and I would say that that is intentional. This is almost nine minutes long. The story-telling utilizes a non-linear time-line, and you have to pay attention to follow it. The DVD holds a making of, seven and a half minutes, and it, along with the commentary(not in English but with subtitles), are worth taking in. I recommend this to fans of The Matrix universe and/or science fiction. 5/10

It's even painful to see that other people didn't experience what I experienced when I watched this short. Not so good? 5 of 10 stars? Man, if I could give 20 stars to this short I'd give it 21! Perhaps I'm being subjective, but I enjoy this short so much and it is emotionally so powerful to me that I can't distinguish the line between being subjective or objective, it's a blur. (spoiler alert) The word "Free" at the end of the short won a place in the treasure room of my memories. There is so much passion! (spoiler end)Wonderful short, my favorite with "Hounted House".

I've looked at the other comments on this animated short and, while I do agree that the animation was bizarre and surreal, I also thought that it was complete eye candy. Furthermore, I do NOT think that the story was bad. I thought that it was that it was simple, yes, (yet not even as simple as "A Boy's Story"), but told with fearless broad strokes and SPOILER.... .... even the ending where Dan didn't succeed in breaking free of the matrix was satisfying. Not everyone who comes close to tearing their mental bonds with the matrix, gets completely loose. That explains why insane people exist in the matrix. They know something's wrong with their reality, but they can't quite think their way fully out of the box.SPOILER FINISHED... the powerfully animated slow-mo sprint is the centerpiece for the short. The other scenes give background and depth to the characters in it. The way they intercut these non-chronological scenes was a great idea. The director, in an interview on the DVD, says that this was going to be done differently at first. I'm glad they did it this way. This way you can pack a whole lot of info in a short amount of time without losing track of what the main theme is: Dan's latest attempt to beat the world record. This short is a Demi-God of animation and should not be even slightly critiqued. I found the story even more solid and well rounded than "The Last Flight of the Osirus" (and a lot more than the super-weird, but fascinating "Matriculated"). World Record was my favorite short on the DVD.