Truly Dreadful Film

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

This is one of the animated shorts from THE ANIMATION SHOW: VOLUME 2. Most of the shorts in this DVD collection are rather poor because very few are funny and the emphasis is much more or art than entertainment in this second installment. For better films overall, see VOLUME 1.While I don't think this film was as brilliant as some reviewers have stated, I would agree that it's one of the better films in this collection. However, be forewarned that the animation style and narrative are a bit odd! All the characters in this short are anthropomorphic radios, tape players, record players or digital music devices! A cassette boom box guy meets a digital lady but he hasn't got the right words. In this bizarre world, these characters cannot speak on their own but must pull the words from the music they play to communicate with each other. So he goes home and tries to piece together various bits and pieces of audiotape to talk to her. This fails miserably and it looks hopeless until he gets some help from an old-time Victrola.As you'd correctly guess, this is a weird film...but also a charming one. Give it a view.

An endearing animation about the struggles of love and self-expression. Hello's characters are created from common audio devices—forced to communicate with what technology they have. A bumbling, young cassette player fumbles with his tape deck as he hopelessly attempts to capture the attention of the cute, digital girl next door. His earnest persistence won me over.The animation technique integrates traditional, hand-drawn 2D characters and textures in a 3D environment through a process referred to as 2.5D. Although coarsely integrated at times, the visuals do their job of telling the story without becoming a distraction.This festival hit is Jonathon Nix's first short animated film. The Australian animator is currently developing the prequel—a feature-length animation titled The Missing Key. Hello was my personal favorite from the Animation Show 2 (2005), and I'm pleased to see it now find a home online.Check out all our weekly reviews at ShortoftheWeek.com

Contains spoilers:I usually hate sentimental tripe, but this film manages to avoid being banal. The cassette tape head is too shy (keeps fumbling while trying to insert a tape) to talk to the cd player head character. His old friend the gramaphone/record helps him find the way to express himself. It's just done perfectly. The right length of time, the way the music and technology are used/portrayed. Even for a cynic who hates sappy stuff, I found this to be a very cute short. I would highly recommend it. This was the best of all the animated shorts I saw as part of the MIke Judge & Don Hertzfeldt "The Animation Show" collection.

I have seen "Hello" at the vienna independent short film festival. It was my clear favourite of the 20 or so films that it was shown with that night. The movie combines a high technical standard with a complete, well crafted story and a spirited idea that reflects so much in modern life. A young man lacks the words to approach a young, secure woman. He looks for advice from an older man and does indeed get advice. He is able to find the right words to get in touch with her. Only the young man is a tape deck, the young woman a CD Player and the old man a gramophone. Congratulations to its maker!