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13 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
a funny yet poignant anti-war masterpiece..brilliant., 27 April 2001
Author: brendan wilson (bkwrds) from K-W, ontario

norman mclaren's neighbours is a masterpiece of animation- it entertains, educates, and satirizes, all at once.

the plot of the film is simple, and predictable: two neighbours are fighting over a flower, which seems to fall directly between their two properties. naturally, the two fight over the flower until both they and the flower are destroyed.

however, underneath that simple plot, there lies a strong anti-war message. it points out that war does not allow for winners, only losers; and it reminds us that we've been known to forget why, exactly, we're fighting each other, killing each other, as well as each other's families.

the battle is shown with live-action/stop-go animation- which allows the effects of the flower on the two men to be exagarrated easily. this suits the film well, giving a serious topic a little light-heartedness.

an interesting side-note- the soundtrack was not recorded, but rather hand-painted (by mclaren himself) onto the soundtrack. this gives the soundtrack a boxy, nintendo-like quality.

in my mind, this film could sit easily with modern anti-war classics; never too preachy, never too simple.

truly enjoyable.

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7 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Very well done and more than a touch ironic, 16 September 2000
10/10
Author: Robert Reynolds (minniemato@hotmail.com) from Tucson AZ

This short, which combines live-action with stop-motion animation, was nominated for two Oscars and won for Best Documentary Short. The events depicted become more ironic as they unfold and to describe any of the details to any great degree would be unfair to the short and to future viewers. Totally recommended.

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6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Something else Canadians can be proud about!, 20 July 2000
10/10
Author: Spiro Agnew (clurge@home.com) from Niagara Falls, Canada

This film is amazing. Truly amazing.

The knack for animation seems to be one of Canada's greatest gifts, so I guess that would make Norm McLaren the most generous man at the party. This piece is visually stunning; watching the characters cascade across the screen with the help of stop-motion techniques is a thing of beauty. The awkward, electronique-esque soundtrack conjures up, and speaks for, every single emotion that McLaren is trying to get across visually. In eight minutes, McLaren develops the two male characters, and their emotions, better than a feature length Hollywood production could in two hours. Could he have made it longer? Sure...but he said all he needed to say in the few minutes he worked with...namely, "Love Thy Neighbour". If you can't find this Oscar winner (for Best Animation Short oh so long ago) you are really missing out on something magical. A thing of beauty, and a Canadian gem. Thanks, Mr. McLaren.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Perhaps a bit too obvious but still relevant and made with great animation (spoilers), 16 November 2007
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Two neighbours sit opposite one another reading the same paper, smoking the same pipes and enjoying their property and lives. Things get even better when a beautiful flower grows in the middle of the joint garden that both men love for its appearance and aroma. However when they both try to appreciate the flower at the same time a minor squabble starts up regarding ownership of the flower and soon the conflict spirals out of control.

I watched this short film after having it mentioned in discussions on classic short films I should see as part of trying to see more films than just the blockbusters that Hollywood kicks out month after month. Watching it more than fifty years after it was made I was surprised by how fresh it did feel. Of course it is still relevant, which is not really down to Maclaren but more down to the nature of man I think but the plot does still work. Modern viewers might feel that it runs a little longer than it should and it is pretty obvious in what it is saying and this was a quibble for me but not a deal breaker. What carried this simple morality tale was the animation, which is stop-motion but still feels fun and creative now.

Using live things to do stop motion must be pretty difficult – it is a time consuming and painstaking process with clay and things (that can be kept still when you need them to be) but with humans that can lose position it is more challenging. Credit to Maclaren that it looks great and flows really well throughout. A classic short then even if it is not perfect. The simple message is laid on pretty thick and is not as smart as some would say but it is still smart enough to hold it together while the animation feels fresh and inventive.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
War is Certain without Peace; Peace is Certain without War, 16 January 2010
7/10
Author: Polaris_DiB from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This humorous and dazzling short film from 1952 features the slapstick hijinks of two neighbors in card-board cut-out land who, upon being seduced by a joy-inducing dandelion (and I mean this literally, I'm not referring to a woman), get into an argument over borders, at which point mayhem ensues. It is a simple and short and entertaining fable complete with moral provided at the end, though there's something to be said about how entertaining the action is despite its theme of non-violence like in mainstream cinema too. However, in terms of sheer inventiveness and animated wizardry, this movie is surprising and awe-inspiring. The creativity behind the actions and how it eventually builds is a testament to McLaren's wit and genius.

--PolarisDiB

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Rather heavy-handed but well made, 5 June 2008
6/10
Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida

This is a rather heavy-handed but well made animated short about war. While the message is presented through "sledgehammer symbolism" (i.e., it wasn't exactly subtle), the film's stop-motion cinematography was very nice and well done. It certainly is interesting.

The movie begins with two normal looking 1950s era guy sitting outside their cutout homes. Both are sitting in lounge chairs reading their newspapers (which, in a not so subtle move, have headlines about war). Then, suddenly, a flower appears on the border of their yards and both think it's the most wonderful flower in the world. However, because they both love it so much, they begin fighting over it--almost like in a Tom & Jerry movie! At first, it's kind of funny, but when it degenerates to attacking their wives and babies, the joke is over. Ultimately, it ends on a very fitting note.

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1 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Entertaining and zany fun, 13 June 2007
6/10
Author: ackstasis from Australia

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I must confess that I am unsure why Norman McLaren's 'Neighbours' is held in such high regard. Whilst it is certainly a fun and very comical short film, it seemed to lack the professionalism that I usually enjoy in my film-making; this particular short just appeared to have been thrown together very cheaply by an amateur. 'Neighbours' was produced at the National Film Board of Canada in Montreal, and it employed a technique known as pixilation, in which live actors are used as stop motion objects. Other portions of the film were created with variable-speed photography, particularly fast-motion.

The plot of the film is a very simple allegory for human warfare. According to McLaren, he was inspired to make 'Neighbours' after a temporary stay in the People's Republic of China. After witnessing the beginnings of Mao's revolution, and the onset of the Korean War, he decided to make a strong anti-military and anti-war film statement. In the film, two young men (Grant Munro and Jean Paul Ladouceur) enjoy the sunlight outside their respective cardboard houses. To their surprise, a beautiful aromatic flower grows in the divide between their two properties, and they begin to bicker over ownership of the plant. This small-scale dispute soon escalates into a frenetic mini-war, as each man furiously murders the wife and child of his neighbour (this particular scene was removed prior to submission for the Academy Awards) and the final result is the death of both men, and of the beautiful flower over which they were arguing. The film ends by stating its overall moral quite simply in various languages: "love your neighbour."

The film is accompanied by an array of zany sound effects – similar to something you might hear in an early arcade game – which McLaren created by scratching the edge of the film into various shapes and lines, which the projector then read as sound. At the 1953 Academy Awards, 'Neighbours' was nominated for Best Short Subject (one reel) and it won Best Documentary, Short Subject (somewhat bafflingly, since the film itself is entirely dramatic).

I'd consider 'Neighbours' to be an entertaining little film, but without the allegorical resonance that many attribute to it. In terms of film-making, the animation is quite inventive, but ultimately nothing to write home about. Perhaps, placed in the context of the era in which it was made, the film takes on a greater significance.

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2 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
A true classic, 15 February 2000
8/10
Author: Mario Bergeron from Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Canada

This eight minutes film is the most know work of animation and experimentation wizzard Norman McLaren. It is as fresh as it was en the early fifties, and also as much disturbing. But the message is (sadly) still OK today. The story is about two friendly neighbourgs taking some fresh air near their fence. Suddenly a flower grows. And the two men kill each other for knowing which side of the land belongs the flower. All this without words, but with experimental music that McLaren had draw on the movie tape.

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5 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Trippy, 30 October 1998
Author: Filmguy6 from Los Angeles

Neighbours is an amazing and sometimes vicious animated masterpiece.

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