Another short film means another short review. Hey, I don’t make the rules. But very much like the last short I did for this, Robin Robin (2021) is very much worth your time, especially as it is runs at just over 32 minutes. It also comes from the geniuses at Aardman who almost always guarantee quality. The film follows a Robin who is adopted by a family of mice as baby when her egg falls from the nest, she was in. Later in life she starts to have an identity crisis as she realises she isn’t very good at being a mouse, leading her to try to prove herself and find herself in the process. It is a pretty classic ‘ugly duckling’ based narrative, which makes it easy to grasp for the kids who this film is clearly aimed at. And it is executed well enough that you ae routing for this character despite the short amount of time that we spend with them. In fact, all the characters are well done, mostly because the film doesn’t try to complicate them. They are all quite simple and easy to understand characters but are given room to grow at the same time, which is great for kids. The film also happens to be a musical, and I do think the music is the weakest aspect of the film. It isn’t bad at all, but the songs aren’t particularly memorable either. But they are well performed and fun enough that kids will like them. The strongest aspect of the film is easily in how it looks. The animation is, of course, superb throughout. Aardman’s particular brand of stop motion animation has a ton of charm and is also sol fluid in the movements, while also not trying to hard to make it too realistic or life like. All the environments that these characters are in are also wonderfully designed with a ton of smaller details that flesh everything out and give so much character to the film. And the lighting in the film is also exquisite. There is a ton of shadows throughout the film, as well as these great moments where the light is almost a spotlight, and it is noticeable how effective the lighting is at several points throughout the film. So overall, a short and sweet film with a ton of charm that would be a great foil on Christmas morning after the hectic first couple of hours. Basically, out it on to calm your kids down.
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