Who payed the critics

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Disappointment for a huge fan!

Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

This short is one adaptation of the book of Ernest Hemighway, by the Russian animator, Aleksandr Petrov (Which, along with Yuriy Norshteyn is one of the greatest Russian animators of the history) The visual technique of the short is paint on glass, and it looks absolutely beautiful, filled with a incredible level of detail. Every single frame looks like a painting, but not only the animation is beautiful to look at, but also the narration used by Petrov it's simply wonderful and mesmerizing, combining dream-like sequences with a unique, fantastic animation. I highly recommend this short to anyone, especially those who enjoy different styles of animation. No wonder why this won the Academy award to Best short in 1999. This short is a masterpiece.

the most unbelievable animation in decades...i am an amateur animator and perhaps from that perspective the film may seem more incredible, but that doesn't take away from the fact that aleksandr petrov is an absolute master of his craft. i was told by a friend that there are only a handful of "painting" animators in the world...those that animate via paint, and after seeing this i believe that he may very well be the rembrandt of animation. for any of you that are fans of both art forms (painting and animation, and lets face it... fans of anything that is stupefyingly incredible on this scale), this is what you need to watch. in the vein of winsor mckay and the old school masters of cel animation, petrov has re-instituted animation as an ARTform...not some Disney and terrible anime. this is worth spending the 20 minutes to watch...if only to feel deeply inadequate yourself.

When I saw this film was made by Aleksandr Petrov, I knew it had to be special. Even before this film received the Oscar for Best Short Animated Film, he was already well-known for his short films since he'd been nominated for Oscars in this same category for THE COW and MERMAID. All three of these films are breathtaking to watch--with the most amazing animation I have ever seen. Instead of traditionally cartoon-like animation or CGI, his films are like living and moving paintings--looking like something that should be in an art museum--not in a theater. They are simply gorgeous.As for THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA, it easily deserved to win the Oscar--being yet another great Petrov film. The only odd thing about it is that it was made in English and French and when I saw it I was surprised because I expected Russian! Still, a gorgeous and faithful adaptation of the book and far better than the Spencer Tracy version of the tale.

"The Old Man and the Sea" (1999) directed by Aleksandr Petrov is a 20 minutes long animation based on Ernest Hemingway's 1952 novella of the same name. Petrov's film was awarded Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2000. More than two years of painting on glass sheets, using brushes but mostly his own fingers, resulted in over 29,000 paintings that enabled Petrov to produce this absolutely awesome, one of the kind feast of colors, images, and emotions that celebrate the famous work of literature and its creator. I have watched it perhaps ten times during the last weekend. I am still overwhelmed by its beauty and depth, and the admiration for what human imagination, creativity, and talent are capable of producing. The extremely rare technique made the film both incredibly realistic and magically dream-like. The director himself gave us the key to understanding his work when he explained that painting with his fingers instead of brushes, "is the closest way from the heart to the cartoon". He put his own heart in every scene of the film, and that's probably why every image is alive, breathing, and shining.