Runaway

This animated film was included with the special showing of the 2010 Oscar-nominated short films as one of the non-nominated but highly commended films. However, I thought this was an odd choice as I wasn't the least bit bowled over by it and I have seen many cartoons also sponsored by the National Film Board of Canada that were much better. Now you can't blame RUNAWAY for this--it's not a bad film at all, but it just seemed to be featured a bit out of its league.

The film has traditional style animation--something that's become rarer these days. The drawing style is very simple and the story is done without many words at all. The music is pretty nice and works well with the film.

As for the story, it's very, very simple. There is a train that is chugging down the tracks with a conductor (they call him a "captain" here and he wears a naval-type uniform, however) who doesn't pay much attention. Because of this, the train strikes a cow and then soon goes careening out of control. The guy shoveling coal is forced to drive--with dire consequences. Overall, it's a very simple story with a bit of a sense of humor, but it's also pretty average from a NFB film.