RadioFlyer

Every once in a while there comes a movie that just makes you want to hug each and everyone around you. A movie that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. RadioFlyer is that kind of movie.

Jason Meckes' short from 2007 is a music-driven piece about a little girl picking up a radioflyer in a yard sale, giving the radioflyer a new sense of purpose after a troublesome past. In essence, one could say it is about feeling wanted and needed. After all, the greatest thing you will ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return. I apologize for using a line from Moulin Rouge, but it is a line I think summarizes RadioFlyer pretty well. Meckes claims that he made the story up as he went along, but let it be said that the movie bears very little sign of being made up on the spot.

As expected from a Goro short, the character designs are nothing short of excellent. From the spoiled brat to the little girl and her radioflyer, it is amazing how they are able to convey so much emotion in so little time. One of the last shots in particular, where the girl smiles to the radioflyer, is a great example of this. Her smile pretty much tells us everything we need to know in the course of two seconds.

Being Meckes' first proper v3DMM release, it is apparent that he has gone for a brand new style, with elements of 2D and real-life photographies (a style he would refine and develop further with Spaceman Carl and the Northern Brightness). The style clearly has its strengths and weaknesses. It definitely gives the movie a very unique visual look, which can be hard to pull off. At the same time we are talking about three vastly different styles (2D, 3D and real-life photographies) clashing together in one big mess. I sometimes wonder if it would not work better if Meckes had settled with just one or two.

That does not prevent RadioFlyer from being an absolutely heartwarming flick, a short that holds up to multiple viewings, and one to watch whenever you are feeling down.

Originally posted on www.3dmmspotlight.tk