Given what a mixed bag this year's Oscar-nominated features were, it's no surprise that the shorter-length films are of similarly mixed quality.
Still, even the worst of the 10 shorts nominated in this year's best animated short film and best live-action short categories isn't so long that it lingers in the memory very long.
Nine of the 10 have been compiled for "Apollo Cinema Presents . . . Oscar Nominated Shorts 2003," a program that's every bit as entertaining and exasperating as you'd expect. Yet, the entire collection is definitely worth a look — especially for animation fans.
It should be noted that, with the exception of one film — the Belgian-made "GridLock" — most of the films would skirt by with no worse than a PG rating from the MPAA. (However, "GridLock," a bit of caustic sourness, pretty much guarantees that if the whole program were rated, it would receive an R.)
Unsurprisingly, when these short films are good, they're very good. Pixar's four-minute comedy "Mike's New Car" (a sequel to its 2001 hit "Monsters, Inc.") is more clever and funny than most feature-length films. In fact, a strong case could be made that it's more clever than the one-note "ChubbChubbs," which took home this year's short-animation Oscar).
Elsewhere, 29 minutes seems too short for the sweetly silly Danish live-action short "This Charming Man," about mistaken identity. (Although the all-too-inevitable feature-length, English-language remake is a scary proposition.)
And while both the Polish-made cartoon "The Cathedral" and "Mt. Head," from Japan, don't translate that well outside of their home countries, you can appreciate the craftsmanship that went into them.
On the live-action side, Australia's "Inja (Dog)" is all too familiar to anyone who's seen "Old Yeller," while France's "I'll Wait for the Next One" is witty but nothing special.
"Apollo Cinema Presents . . . Oscar Nominated Shorts 2003" is not rated, but would probably receive an R for scattered use of strong profanity, violence (animated, slapstick and gunplay) and the aforementioned material in "GridLock": simulated sex (overheard), brief glimpses of full female nudity and some questionable humor (vulgar references and innuendo). Total running time: 91 minutes.
E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com