21st October 2010
Cornerhouse
I went to watch the comical fast moving animation, which sees small plastic toys going about their pretty outrageous ‘day to day’ life in a small town. Horse, cowboy and Indain start by celebrating the birthday of Horse. Cowboy and Indian plan on building him a barbecue but when they order 50 bricks online they end up with 50 million outside their house. This kick-starts their adventure leading them to the center of the Earth, the icy plains of the North Pole and encountering a giant mechanical penguin.
The Belgian animation directed by Stephane Aubier and Vincent Patar was presented in French with English subtitles. At first I found the film quite difficult to grasp. The speed of the visuals combined with reading subtitles was quite a strain but after 5 minutes I forgot about it and managed to enjoy! A lot of effort and patience must have gone into the stop frame making of the film and it really paid off. Attention to detail was amazing, my favourite scenes being inside the house. I love the aesthetic of bringing small traditional toys to life in a hand-processed manor. It wasn’t flawless pixar animation but the jumpy quality was really endearing and provided a smile and a giggle throughout.