Oscar-Nominated Shorts 2012: As Usual, the Cartoons Are Best

Published 8:00 am Tuesday, February 7, 2012

This year’s shorts offer a little something for every viewing temperament, though some categories require sitting through a lot of mediocre to get to the good. The live-action field is only so-so, though the droll comedy Tuba Atlantic, about a machine-gun-toting, seagull-killing curmudgeon with six days to live, addresses mortality and reconciliation in unexpected ways. For sheer inventiveness, nothing holds a candle to the animated nominees. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore documents the adventures of an avid reader who is blown, Wizard of Oz–like, into a magical world where books are alive. And Wild Life is a moving, painterly look at an Englishman who decides to reinvent himself in the rugged Canadian frontier in the early 20th century. What starts as a fish-out-of-water comedy soon becomes something richer and sadder—a reminder that sometimes when people head out to find themselves, the only thing they discover is oblivion.