The Great Oscar Baiter

By 1949, Disney had Chip and Dale more or less figured out. Dale is the one with the red nose. Dale is the dumb one. Chip and Dale should not feed on human flesh. (Not saying they ever did that last one, but by 1949 it was pretty clear that they never would). But most importantly, Disney had found an antagonist worthy of the chipmunks- Donald Duck. (via IMDb) Is Donald Duck the greatest Disney character? Quite possibly. I'd say he's at the very least the funniest, a barely contained bottle of rage just waiting to explode in new and exciting ways. In fact, as far as classic animated characters go, he's right at the top of the list, just below Daffy. Ducks are just funny. Need proof- check out Jack Hannah's Toy Tinkers. It's a pretty simple short, much in the same vein as a lot of others we've covered on here. Chip and Dale want something of Donald's (in this case, walnuts), Donald doesn't want them to have it, madness ensues. It's not much different ...

We’ve covered a couple of Pixar shorts here at The Great Oscar Baiter, to varying degrees of quality. But very few shorts in their history were quite as important as Tony Toy. Released in 1988, Tin Toy proved that Pixar could be more than a company that produced tech demos; they were storytellers. In fact, Toy Story, Pixar’s first feature film, began life as a proposed Tin Toy television special. With all that in mind, let’s take a look and see what all the fuss is about. (via Wikipedia) Directed by John Lasseter, Tin Toy is technically not a Christmas film, but what says Christmas like toys? Anyway, the short tells the story of Tinny, a mechanical one man band who, like all toys, wants to be played with. And the kid he's got is Billy, a baby who looks like SOMETHING OUT OF THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES. (via Imgur) WHAT IS THAT?! WHY DOES IT LOOK LIKE THAT?! HOW CAN THE PEOPLE WHO MADE THIS SLEEP AT NIGHT?! WHY DOES IT BLINK LIKE THAT?! WHAT DOES IT WANT?! MY SOUL?! In this moment...

When it comes to holiday movies, Christmas definitely gets most of the attention. Halloween puts up an admirable fight for second, but the rest of the calendar gets pretty soundly ignored. Oh sure, there’s the occasional Thanksgiving or Valentine’s gem, but they’re few and far between. If only there were a movie that celebrates all holidays. Or at least, if only there were a movie that did that that was better than Holiday Land. (via IMDb) Released in 1939, Sid Marcus's Holiday Land tells the story of a young boy named Scrappy who complains about having to wake up to go to school (if only he knew), and wishes that every day could be a holiday. And while such wishes usually go unanswered, this is an animated short, where all your dreams can come true. Or, at the very least, can result in an extended dream sequence. Holiday Land marks the second film produced by Charles Mintz that we've covered on this site, after The Little Match Girl. Nowadays, Charles Mintz is probably bes...

While many people associate Christmas movies with good cheer and family fun, the genre has always had a dark side. From Black Christmas to Anna and the Apocalypse, there are plenty of Christmas movies out there with a body count. But none of them compare to Peace on Earth, a chipper little short in which a couple of baby squirrels learn about the annihilation of the human race. (via Wikipedia) In case you couldn't tell, this is a weird short. Released in 1939, only a few months after the start of World War II, Hugh Harman's Peace on Earth takes place in a world populated by anthropomorphized animals, who rebuilt society after humanity wiped itself out. It's a strangely dark subject for any animated short, especially a Christmas one, but I suppose its heart is in the right place. And there are definitely some powerful moments in this film, with the images of warfare and destruction being as beautifully animated as they are haunting. (via IMDb) At the same time, there...

We’ve covered a few Christmas films in our Year in Shorts, and each of them contains some important Yuletide staples. Presents. Elves. Horrible acts of destruction and violence. All these things are essential Christmas traditions, and yet I hope that you don’t think I’ve forgotten the reason for the season. And to prove my point, let’s talk about the 2001 short Give Up Yer Aul Sins. (via IMDb) Give Up Yer Aul Sins is the first in a series of shorts which all follow a simple but clever premise: using archival interview footage from the 60s, the filmmakers (led by director Cathal Gaffney) takes schoolchildren's retellings of Bible stories and set them to animation. Today's story is about John the Baptist, so it's not technically a Christmas story. But it does have Jesus in it, and that's more than Ferdinand the Bull can say. The idea of building an animated short over the ramblings of children is nothing new; we covered a similar short with Moonbird just over a we...

Christmas is a time for giving. A time for charity. A time for reaching out to someone in need with a hand of friendship to bring them in for the cold. And if you believe all that, today’s short has a bridge to sell you. Let’s take a look at Mickey’s Orphans, a Christmas short which tells us the dangers of too much goodwill towards men! (via IMDb) Released in 1931, Mickey's Orphans was one of the very first films to be nominated for the newly created Academy Award for Best Animated Short. It follows the story of Mickey and Minnie, who bring in a basketful of orphaned kittens from the snow and learn to regret it! Merry Christmas! Of course, I joke about Mickey's Orphans containing an anti-charity message (mostly; this is the Disney company we're talking about), but in my defense, there's not much else to talk about. Mickey's Orphans is a perfectly fine short, but there's nothing particularly special about it. It's amusing, but there's not much else t...

Folks, I’ve done it. I found a short that, objectively and unambiguously, qualifies as a Christmas film. It has “Christmas” in the title! And as an early Christmas gift to myself, it’s a Tom and Jerry short! (I spoil myself). So let’s celebrate the season by taking a look at The Night Before Christmas. (via IMDb) Once again directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, this 1941 short is the third to feature Tom and Jerry (and, coincidentally enough, is the third Tom and Jerry Short we've covered). While the formula had been more or less figured out by this point, it would still be some time before it was perfected, and The Night Before Christmas definitely has some of that early weirdness we saw in Puss Gets the Boot. Tom's design isn't quite finished, Jerry is far less sadistic than he normally is, and the violence doesn't quite reach the levels of mayhem we've come to expect from the pair. (via TV Tropes) Nevertheless, it's still a damn entertaining short a...