I love short films. I love making them. I love watching them. So, right off the bat this new anthology Love, Death & Robots from Netflix appealed to me.
Toss in robots, sci-fi fight scenes and the fact that every single film is animated…it’s almost as if Netflix produced this specifically for me.
Some look like video game cutaway scenes, others like super stylized hand drawn animations. All of them look absolutely beautiful. Such amazing work. But be warned…these animated films are all pretty graphic and not intended for young children. The only one I felt ok showing my kids was the one where Yogurt took over the world. (Yes, really!)
Some of the films are so out there and so short that it’s over before you can begin to appreciate what you’ve just watched…and since they range from 6 to 20 minutes each, there are a lot of them–18 to be exact. But which ones are the best of the best? Here are my top ten absolute faves, in no particular order!
“Beyond the Aquila Rift” – Clearly inspired by The Twilight Zone and Rod Serling. Fantastic twists and premise.
“Good Hunting” – Alternate Dimension Hong Kong! Such beautiful animation!
“Helping Hand” – How Sandra Bullock’s GRAVITY should have ended! Not for the squeamish!
“Lucky 13” – Superb story, fantastic execution.
“Zima Blue” – This one’s for the art lovers!
“Ice Age” – That 70s Show dude and his girlfriend wind up in a situation similar to Lisa Simpson in the “Treehouse of Horror VII” sketch Lisa’s Tub Universe
“Alternate Histories” – Watching Hitler die over and over again never gets old.
“Sonnie’s Edge” – Imagine Pacific Rim where instead of connecting with a huge metal robot, humans connected with the Kaiju and then engaged in fights? Yeah. Phenomenal.
“Three Robots” – Post-apocalyptic comedy at its finest!
“When The Yogurt Took Over” – The world isn’t taken over by aliens or creatures from the center of the planet. Nope, we’re bested by the culture of Yogurt. Very funny, and extremely cute character design for a win!
