Sick Product of a Sick System

i must have seen a different film!!

Absolutely Brilliant!

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

I first watched this short on the DVD Creature Comforts, which contains this and 3 other Aardman short films. Creature Comforts was the short that stood out to me least as being great. Now, the other shorts ranged from excellent to pure genius, so I'm not putting this down, it just isn't as good as the others.Several animals are being interviewed at the zoo. For 5 minutes, we get to hear the perspectives of all sorts of zoo animals and their thoughts on the living conditions and how well they are treated. Animals such as a lonely gorilla, a lemur with eyesight problem and some sort of lion from Brazil all give their input in this sort of humorous short.The best part of this is the animation. So many jokes are thrown in, mostly in the background, making this really feel like it was filmed at a zoo. The interviewed animals, for the most part, are just saying things that would be truthful, and though some humor could be taken from them, it's not usually funny to here the poignant ideas of animals who feel crowded and scared in their small cages. It's more interesting than funny, and because of the mixture of interesting ideas and fun animation full of sight gags, Creature Comforts is a fun short film, but still falls short to some of Aardman's other claymated masterpieces.My rating: *** out of ****. 5 mins.

This short was made by the same team that made Wallace and Gromit shorts. In fact, in 1991, both this film and the first Wallace and Gromit film (A GRAND DAY OUT) were nominated for the Oscar's Best Animated Short Film category--so both films were competing against each other. Because of this, technically speaking, both films were very similar--using stop motion claymation with gorgeous scenery.However, when it came to the stories themselves, there was a major difference. While A GRAND DAY OUT had a fully developed story (with a defined plot and characters), CREATURE COMFORTS was a one concept film--showing zoo animals in cages talking about their lives as if they were real people. Frankly, I hated CREATURE COMFORTS and thought the novelty of seeing these animals talk about the most mundane things was interesting only for the first few seconds--whereas the Wallace and Gromit film was brilliant. So, of course, the Academy chose CREATURE COMFORTS for the award! I've seen CREATURE COMFORTS twice--because I thought maybe I was too critical. But, the second time I noticed the exact same thing--great animations and a story that was about as compelling as watching grass grow!! Take my advice, watch the Wallace and Gromit film and you'll see what I'm talking about--after several more followup episodes of Wallace and Gromit AND a feature length film, it's pretty obvious I might just be right about this one--the Academy gave it to the wrong Nick Park film.I give this one a 6--the animation quality was lovely.

This made by the same guy who brought us Wallace and Gromit, Nick Park.Done the same year "A Grand Day Out" was done as well.It all has to do with interviewing the Animals at a British Zoo. They express what's good and what not too good about the place.They feature a Brazillian Mountain Lion, 3 Polar Bears, some weird looking chickens, and many more! This short film is priceless, and worth seeing again and again.Perfect example on what British Animation and humor is like.Those who like Wallace and Gromit will enjoy this one too.It's available to see online and on DVD.

Nick Park and co. won a BAFTA nomination for this clay-mation short in 1990, and went on to receive an OSCAR the following year. It's not difficult to see why.This early animated short from the Aardman team shows originality, intelligence and not a little sublimity. Julie Sedgewick (the only credited cast member, whose voice is hardly even featured) went out with a Nagra (or similar) tape recorder and interviewed a selection of people - mainly zoo visitors and people living in council-owned accommodation in the UK.Combined beautifully with some charming and cleverly interpreted clay-mation, the Aardman team have produced 'Creature Comforts', to worldwide acclaim.Very highly recommended.