I liked this short. Yes, its overall message was simplistic. It's essentially the same sort of pro-ecological message presented in some of Hayao Miyazaki's films (NAUSICAA, SPIRITED AWAY, PRINCESS MONONOKE), and yet nobody's off slagging Miyazaki for being so sentimentally-minded and prelapsarian. Part of why some may find this short so revolting is because the animals who populate the film are so darn cute, and a lot of its emotion is wrought upon how much that cuteness is defiled. All of these are valid criticisms of this film: the manipulativeness of its animal characters, the simplicity of its message. And yet these are all bound up in images of such imaginative weirdness, accompanied by a magnificent musical score (by the Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, whom I adore), that I think the thrill and the thrall I felt at the end of the film overwhelmed all my cynical misgivings. VARMINTS deserves the BAFTAS nominations it's garnered for best animated short and best score, and I am now looking eagerly for the book!
Review of Varmints
