Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Kirpianuscus yes, it is the wrong word. because it is touching, impressive, delicate, bitter. for me, the expected animation who has as the essence the poetry of dream. a film great for its simplicity. and for the inspired translation in image of the fight between human and animal instinct. so, a must see. for reflect. about the basic details who are essence of our humanity.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Feral" is an animated short film from 3 years ago. It runs for 12 minutes and managed an Academy Award nomination. It is probably my favorite from the nominees, but that is not because I think this is a must-see, but because it really was a weak set of nominees including the winner "Mr Hublot". Feral definitely delivers in terms of the animation style. It is certainly not for everybody, but I liked it. The way they used all these shades of gray made it look truly artistic. And I also liked the inclusion of color near the ending when the protagonist reunited with nature. What I did not like that much was the story. It's a bit of "Jungle Book" and "Nell", but there is nothing really new or refreshing about this one sadly. It's a tale of isolation and integration when a boy is picked up in the jungle by a hunter. The boy adapted to nature and basically lived like an animal. The transformation scene around minute 9 is maybe the only really good moment from this short film and that is also more due to the animation than to the story. I would have been fine with this one getting the Oscar. Beautiful to watch and I recommend it. Lets see what the next projects by Daniel Souse will look like.

Robert Reynolds This short was nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short. There will be spoilers ahead:This is a visually beautiful and haunting short, told with no dialog. The basic premise, that a feral boy is found by a hunter and returned to civilization, is deceptively simple.The fact is, when you find a child who has essentially lived as a wild animal for a sizable portion of his life, it is shortsighted at best to think, as the adults in the film clearly do, that merely cutting his hair and dressing him as a "proper" boy dresses makes him a boy. For starters, he has absolutely no idea what the culturally instilled modes of behavior are for a human child.He still has the instincts of a feral animal and those will take years to break down and replace with the behaviors installed by years of being raised in the social settings of human societies. That's what this short is about.It has precious little to do with "freedom", as the boy was no more "free" in the wild that he is in "civilization". He just trades the norms he became accustomed to in the wild, which will sooner later mean a relatively early demise (he very nearly dies before the hunter finds him) for the norms of human society. He's in a cage either way, he just traded a cage he's comfortable with for one which is strange and terrifying.An excellent short which is available for download for a reasonable cost and is well worth tracking down. Most highly recommended.

MartinHafer This year's crop of Oscar-nominated animated shorts is unusual. In the past, normally there are 2 or 3 films which are exceptional and I would be happy seeing any of them win. This year, however, "Get a Horse!" is so superior that I would be incredibly shocked if it did not win. Now I normally prefer shorts from small film companies--as I want to encourage the non-corporate players and an Oscar is a great way to do it. But Disney simply outdid itself and the rest just pale in comparison.I'll cut right to it on this particular short--I really don't know why it was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Short. It's got some nice and unusual animation but to me it is by far the weakest of the nominees and I've seen a lot of other shorts (especially the Commended Shorts that were shown along with the Nominees in the theaters this weekend) that were better.Story-wise, there isn't a whole lot here and it's told without words. A feral boy is found in the wild and brought to civilization by a hunter. The child has difficulty fitting in and that's really it.The animation style is what I appreciated in this one. While there are no faces on this animation, it really isn't simple because the style and artistry is there. Nice to see once.