Life Is Beautiful (2013) User Reviews

What Goes Around Comes Around

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 30 April 2014]

Anton is a little person ( Insert your own Max Clifford joke here ) and being depressed about this decides to take his own life . Not a great cheery feel good premise for an animated short film but to be fair to director Ben Brand he has a good shot at it . I thought maybe had seen Brand's previous short animated films before somewhere and checked to see what he'd done only to find LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL is his debut but I can see him having a fairly successful future career unlike Max Clifford

As Bob mentioned the structure of the narrative is very cyclical . Existence is very competive and while Anton seems beaten down by existence he finds that in death the same universal law is in effect same as it was just before conception . No matter what everything is a competition just before we are conceived as we live and after we die . I'm not entirely sure of the director's religious beliefs if he has any but there's an element of Eastern mysticism to this animated short and setting it in a very recognisable Western style urban sprawl might meant it having jarred but this isn't the case . It's strange watching a Pixar type animated film dealing with such heavy topics but remains a charming little short

Clever and amusing little short with quality animation

[bob the moo · 28 April 2014]

At the minute I do not think there is a Pixar film that uses depression, suicide and ponderings on the afterlife so, until there is, then short film Life is Beautiful is probably as close as you're going to get. Pretty much played for its comic tone, we see a very short man reaching a point in his life where he really cannot carry on with the indignities heaped upon him and decides to end it all. This brings about a quite dramatic change where it turns out that perhaps there is something to be said for his size after all.

We open with a short montage that reminded me of the "a lifetime in 10 minutes" start of the film Up, but in this case it is showing us that Anton has been a marginalized outsider due to his height for his entire life. This continues into the short until the suicide. From here, although it remains comic, we have a spirit race of some sort which then turns into a clear representation of rebirth or reincarnation, where Anton shows that actually his size can be a benefit. As a narrative it is an odd one for sure and I'm not entirely what to take away from it apart from the fact that it was amusing, but not really hilarious.

The quality of the animation helps carry this tone because it is bright, colourful and well animated in the style that many will be accustomed to from Pixar. The rise of technology is impressive and it is encouraging to see that small independent filmmakers and students often can produce animation akin to the big studios – however what is more impressive is that people can use it well, ie not just produce a showreel for how good they are at computers but rather tell a story or show interesting ideas. This is the case here as I liked the content even if I felt it could have been funnier or smarter, since it did fall a little short in both (pun was unintentional there, I promise). Visually impressive but also the sound design is very good too with nice little touches throughout.

the competition

[Kirpianuscus · 5 November 2017]

this is the key of this short animation who is nice, moralistic and could reflect frustrations of many from us. but the end seems be cryptic. and the story of Anton too strange as subject for Pixar. but, sure, if you ignore the strange vision about afterlife of director, "Life is Beautiful" is one of fine animations for reflect about life as never ending competition , to recognize yourself in the situation of Anton or for be right argument for yours believes.