David Dibble’s short film Adonis tells the story of unlucky-in-love Kip (James Snyder). Hoping to finally find himself with the right woman, Kip hires a dating service to lend a helping hand. Only in this case, it’s a helping paw as the agent assigned to his case is the small dog, Adonis.
The result is a cute romp through a fantastical world of live-action people, animated toys and brightly colored environs. For as bleak as Kip’s chances often are, the world surrounding him is an oppressively cheerful and magical place. It’s like a cartoon dream world.
And the short film plays up its cuteness to the hilt. The narrative isn’t complicated, and the entire scenario is as simple as they come: cute dog tries to find Kip a date. Nothing more or less than that idea.
Since it’s such a short film, the idea doesn’t linger long enough for its simplicity to let it down. And because it’s so damned fun to look at, even if you’re over the narrative (or not remotely interested), it’s still entertaining. I personally like a bit more to my short films as far as dramatic stakes are concerned, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t an enjoyable film overall.
Ultimately, Adonis is eye candy and cute overload, like if a child decided to make a short about what dating might be like when they got older. In this case, though, that child is an extremely talented filmmaker who has created an imaginative, colorful world out of composited digital backgrounds and animation effects.
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