What They Say:
A young rabbit as she tries to build the burrow of her dreams, becoming embarrassed each time she accidentally digs into a neighbor’s home.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
One of the biggest standouts to Madeline Sharafian’s “Burrow” is that it shows that Pixar is more than capable of making a beautiful 2D animated feature on the level of anything Cartoon Saloon makes…if they only had the desire to do so. Looking more like “Ernest & Celestine” as opposed to “Toy Story,” this cute piece of animation from the SparkShorts program follows a shy rabbit who has a dream of digging the perfect burrow in the ground (complete with exercise room)! The poor guy does not anticipate the ground being filled with other critters who have long lived there, and those plans grow more and more chaotic as the race to find the perfect space within the ground goes on. The payoff (which I won’t spoil obviously) if the kind of heartwarming payoff you expect from a Pixar short.
It doesn’t have the emotional punch of other shorts they make (like the recent “Bao”), but it IS something that makes you feel good! Again, the standout aspect is the fact that this was animated in 2D animation. Once in awhile the studio will have a dream or a flashback sequence in one of their movies that utilize traditional animation in their features, but the company never actually makes a feature film using the medium.
In Summary:
“Burrow” shows that Pixar would be more than capable of making a great animated 2D on the level of what international studios are making, and if Disney insists on dumping all their feature films onto Disney+ anyway, maybe they should take what has been learned on this short and use it to actually make a feature animation that is lovingly made with hands?! Who knows what the delay is, but the proof that they could pull off a feat is sitting here in front of this charming short film.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Disney+
This short has been nominated for Best Animated Short at the 93rd Annual Academy Awards!
