Marooned

WE ARE ONE: A GLOBAL FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW! Marooned is DreamWorks Animation’s version of Wall-E almost down to a T. And be warned because there is a good amount of time where I use it for comparison and contrast. Two robots (or droids – whatever you prefer) are infatuated with Earth. They want to take a trip to Earth but are stuck on the moon. The two form a plan to assure they experience the trip and planet.

The over seven-minute short is similar to Pixar’s Wall-E, where it almost resembles a silent film without dialogue but has sound effects and a score. Once I was able to get passed the familiar resemblance of the plot and style, I was able to enjoy the beautiful animation. The animation is blockbuster feature-film worthy, as you would expect from DreamWorks Animation.

“Two robots (or droids – whatever you prefer) are infatuated with Earth…but are stuck on the moon.”

One of the things that really made me like this animated short is its ending. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil it, but I’ll warn you to have tissues in hand because it is a bit of a tearjerker. Marooned’s ending also made me separate it from Wall-E. There was one point in the short where I thought that there also might be a twist before it’s ending, so it’s not entirely predictable.

I also like that Marooned is a short film for a few different reasons. One is being the reality that due to technology (ironically enough), not many people have a long attention span. It makes it easier for children to follow. Also, with it being short, it reminds me of the older cartoons that were shown before feature films. Lastly, the amount of story that can be put into seven minutes is remarkable. It takes talent to do that, and DreamWorks Animation definitely has plenty of that on their team.

Marooned was curated by the Annecy Film Festival for the We Are One: A Global Film Festival.