World Record (2003)

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Very interesting point: what does it take, precisely, to wake up from the Matrix? Does it require that red pill, or can it actually be caused by exertion of mind or body (or both) beyond the realm of possibility in the "real world"? These are the questions asked by both "The Kid's Story" and this short, "World Record". However, "The Kid's Story" is more like a back-story introduction to the character who appears in the sequels doggedly following Neo around like a lost puppy, whereas this short stands alone.The animation itself isn't quite as exceptional as the rest of the shorts, but it's interesting what it does with body and motion. As the narrative relies entirely on the workings of the main character's body, expressionistic use of his muscles are created by warping both while he's running and during his own backstory. It's actually a very interesting approach, and is slightly reminiscent of the much more caricaturistic "The Triplets of Belleville".--PolarisDiB

this Animatrix features an athlete called Dan Davies who is trying to break a world record time in a race, even though he seems to have already qualified in a previous heat for some other race - this is not made clear, not that much is in this anime - a fact which makes his coach opposed to his taking part in this one, which he expresses to Dan in a ridiculously animated way, like a dancer in a rap video. Dan decides to race anyway, after further conversations with his dad which reveal he had a previous doping scandal and with a reporter lady during which he displays a dismissive arrogance which makes him unsympathetic. he runs the race, and his thigh muscle packs in but he keeps going, pushing himself to his limit. the narration informs us at the beginning that only the most exceptional of people become aware of the matrix but occasionally some do through different means, and three agents observe him during the race, springing into action when he freezes, the world goes pale green and his signal as the agents inform us becomes unstable.he actually wakes up inside his pod before the machines subdue him again, and back in the matrix he collapses over the line, breaking a world record and ending up later in a wheelchair. a nurse talks to him about homemade cherry pie while agents observe him but he gets up in defiance, craving freedom. he collapses again, having glimpsed the veil and peeked beyond its facade. it's also interesting that the reporter mentions that he broke 9.8 in the qualifying heat; on Earth, that figure is terminal velocity, and the suggestion may be that he, having broken a figure that is in the context of terminal velocity a mathematical constant, is breaking rules, breaking preexisting laws. the agents are watching him because he is trying to break them again, which is indeed the point, as having woken up from the matrix briefly, he is later consumed by an unconfined desire for freedom, a single-minded pursuit of rebellion. defying his physically crippled form and trying to stand whispering freedom while his nurse discusses domestic joys expresses this nicely too.it's a decent story animated solidly and variously by Mad House, the guys who did the Animatrix Program and the Final Fantasy 7 anime Last Order, but like them it falls flat for a few reasons, but is also interesting and well made, and some of the reasons for that are not mutually exclusive to those for its negative aspects. for example, the protagonist is entirely unlikeable, which is a positive and a negative facet. he wants to race for no good reason other then self-gratification and behaves with a distinct air of arrogance towards those around him. his superiority complex makes it difficult to enjoy his story and yet it's also a welcome challenge for the viewer in a franchise of otherwise noble or likable protagonists.Commander Lock plays this role in Reloaded and Revolutions, but his reasons for obtuse and pragmatic arrogance are better then Dan's, more grounded in reason and reality, and his stunned silence when Morpheus' belief in Neo is finally vindicated at the end of Revolutions is the reason for his arrogance played out to its conclusion. in this short, the reasons are less clear but they are welcome as Dan's own poor humility and stunted, restrained craving for freedom shows the range of personalities people can adopt, and that they aren't necessarily always positive.another reason for this being an interesting Animatrix is what appears to be a different, perhaps earlier version of the matrix. i think this to be the case because the numbers that appear while Dan is waking up from it are red, and more conclusively because the agents look different to their normal suited selves. this is reinforced by the fact that other Animatrix stories contain the familiar suited agents, suggesting this could be a different matrix we're watching.World Record won't set or break any records or major impressions in anime or the matrix franchise or storytelling in general; more 6 out of 10 then 9.8. it's still a competent, well made, visually interesting effort which matrix fans should enjoy all the same.

This is the eighth part of 'The Animatrix', a collection of animated short movies that tell us a little more about the world of 'The Matrix'. Again with a new style in animation. We see how an athlete frees himself from the matrix during a 100m. run. Although the premise is very good the short itself was a little disappointing. Still entertaining though.

When I heard the title "World Record" as part of a collection of short movies in the matrix universe, I was quite enthralled. There is a lot of potential here. Could it be about an outsider like Neo & friends achieving a world record for fun? Could it be about a person who loses their perspective of reality and does impossible things? What is it about?The answer is something close to the latter. It's about an athlete who gets too focused on his desire to achieve a record. Or something. Quite frankly, the story is poorly told, interwoven, trying to be very clever and ending up being awkward. The animation shows craftsmanship, but at the same time, it looks surprisingly ugly and basic. But the real crux is the story - admittedly, I would not have understood it without watching a making of or a directors commentary or whatever it was, explaining a few of the final scenes. The movie, perhaps like the athlete's life, or at least his run, is a blur.The sad thing is all the wasted potential. Where "Beyond" takes a simple idea - a glitch in the matrix producing a haunted house - and turns it into something truly special, this short movie takes a special idea - an athlete breaking the laws of the matrix by sheer willpower - and turns it into something so convoluted it's disappointingly boring.5/10