This is a parable written by Oscar Wilde that was brought to life using traditional animation, though the style of the artwork is far from traditional. For the 1970s, the art is terrific though by today's standards the frame rate is a bit slow. It won't matter, as the story is so well done and music so enchanting.
The story is about a selfish giant who returns to his castle after a four year absence. He find children playing in his garden and chases them away and puts a sign up saying "no trespassing". Oddly, while the countryside eventually changes with the passing seasons, the garden remains winter due to there being no joy there. How this changes and what happens to the giant is just something you'll have to see for yourself.
This animated short was nominated for an Oscar. When I began watching it, I wasn't especially impressed at the beginning--it seemed rather schmaltzy. However, I'm very glad I stuck with it--as the film only got better and better and by the end I was overcome by its beauty and message. Considering how wonderful the film was, it really made me wonder about the film that managed to win in this category (THE CRUNCH BIRD). Sadly, when I watched THE CRUNCH BIRD, I found it to be a rather poor cartoon--with very garish animation and a rather crude punchline that would mostly only appeal to 7th graders. How THE SELFISH GIANT lost to this insignificant film is a mystery.
The story is about a selfish giant who returns to his castle after a four year absence. He find children playing in his garden and chases them away and puts a sign up saying "no trespassing". Oddly, while the countryside eventually changes with the passing seasons, the garden remains winter due to there being no joy there. How this changes and what happens to the giant is just something you'll have to see for yourself.
This animated short was nominated for an Oscar. When I began watching it, I wasn't especially impressed at the beginning--it seemed rather schmaltzy. However, I'm very glad I stuck with it--as the film only got better and better and by the end I was overcome by its beauty and message. Considering how wonderful the film was, it really made me wonder about the film that managed to win in this category (THE CRUNCH BIRD). Sadly, when I watched THE CRUNCH BIRD, I found it to be a rather poor cartoon--with very garish animation and a rather crude punchline that would mostly only appeal to 7th graders. How THE SELFISH GIANT lost to this insignificant film is a mystery.