The Wheel Award for Excellence in Animated Short

IMDB

There are five movies nominated for an Oscar for Animated Short. My own pick for the Oscar, if I had a vote, would be for

• One Small Step (USA and China): Young girl dreams of being an astronaut. With perseverance, the support of her father, and the shoes he makes for her (One Small Step, get it?), her dream...well, you'll just have to watch yourself. A-

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My runners-up:

• Weekends (USA): Young boy is shuttled between divorced parents on weekends. Sad, lonely, with surreal nightmare sequences, it can be dark, but memorable. B+
• Animal Behaviour (Canada): Animals in therapy. Leech, bird, pig, gorilla. All there to keep their instincts in check, like praying mantis's urge for cannibalistic sex. Funniest short of the bunch. B+
• Late Afternoon (Ireland): Elderly woman with dementia relives her life in a cup of tea. Sweet, sad, upbeat at end with glimmerings of awareness. B-
• Bao (USA): Childless woman makes steamed buns and one comes to life. It grows up and leaves home, making mom upset. Climax takes shocking turn. Imagination or real, kinda creepy? Oscar favorite, not mine. C+

Tune in Sunday to see the Academy's pick.