Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

I probably would not agree with this film's Academy Award nomination, but it's not worse than the eventual winner "Ryan" either in my opinion. "Gopher Broke" is a short film that only runs for 4 minutes, is animated and tells us about the unsuccessful attempts of a gopher to get a meal. And when he finally seems to manage, it's just a gigantic cow that falls down on him. I hope he is alright. The animation was okay, the story wasn't bad either for four minutes. yet something's missing for me to recommend this work. It was not as funny as I hoped it would be. Can't say I am too surprised that writer and director Jeff Fowler has not managed to build a career on this in the last 10 years. So, not recommended, although it's not horrible either.

GOPHER BROKE was nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Short and while it is a cute four minutes of film, it also seems a bit ordinary. Now this isn't to say that it's bad. It's just that in the last decade there have been so many similar looking films that it just doesn't seem very special. With Pixar, Dreamworks, Fox and many, many independents making films of about comparable graphic quality, GOPHER BROKE isn't exactly innovative. Now the main character is pretty cute and the story engaging, but I also wished the film had been longer than just four minutes.With this style of animation getting better and better, the bar is being raised and GOPHER BROKE seems like yet another CGI film and that's really it. By the way, if you'd like to see a smaller studio that did an exceptional job with similar graphics, try watching the Welsh film FETCH. While only about a minute and a half long, it seems to pack in more laughs and is a delight.

...wait till a cow lands on you.You'll never look at a trip to the Farmer's Market the same way again. "Gopher Broke" is a colorful look at one animal's frustration in trying to get what he wants, namely food. And how he is thwarted from that goal at every turn. He hits a bump in the road and tries to make it work for him (literally). But there are more aggressive scavengers than he. Such is the way of life, and not just for gophers, either. It's now available for purchase, for a mere five dollars, at www.Filmporium.com. The DVD includes two other shorts, "The Hill Farm" and the off-beat romance "The Fan and the Flower."

Gopher Broke was playing as part of the Sundance Film Festival this year. It is a great 3D animated short about a hungry gopher who tries to 'score' produce from passing-by farm trucks. Of course, his mishaps are what make the show funny. Gopher Broke was nominated for the 2005 animated short film Academy Award.The animation is well-done and the gags come rapidly throughout the films 4 min. run time. My favorite joke involves a passing by cow. It's always fun to watch a good animated short. And while this may not be a classic like 'What's Opera Doc?', 'Gopher Broke' is a very entertaining toon. Hopefully, we'll see this scheming gopher again soon. Overall, a highly recommended animated short I voted an 8 for.