The Dam Keeper (2014)

Overrated

Absolutely the worst movie.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The Dam Keeper is a beautiful hand-made oil-painted animated longish short film that touches on very sad themes: loneliness, bullying and social exclusion. It speaks of the importance of humour and creativity to overcome the harshness of life, and is a reminder that unfunded fears take us to places we should never go as they have not doors for those people who want to get near us to enter.The dam in the film is a not of water, if of dark clouds, pollution and darkness overall. A metaphor for the darkness that we all keep away every day, even though is there, around the corner. It is also about social darkness, because that is what most hurts the piggy, not the polluted air around; you can learn to control that, but to learn to deal with social exclusion and darkness is something that you learn the hard way if ever learned.The film is very charming, very emotional and touching, greatly enhanced by a fantastic music score, and the wonderful non-invasive narration by Lars Mikkelsen. The textures and colors of the film, and its painterly nature help to create a timeless piece of animation.To me, the main fault of the film is that we don't get to know why every single child in the school bullies the piggy and every adult ignores an orphan. It seems unrealistic and something that I want to believe rarely happens, especially if you are the person who keeps the community safe. It seems not to make sense, to me.Overall, a wonderful animated film.

"His mask protected me from the cloud, but nothing I had, protected me from the people."The Dam Keeper is an emotionally engaging animated short co-directed by Robert Kondo and Daisuke Tsutsumi, which I thought could've upset Disney's candidate (Feast) for the Oscar win this year. The hand painted 2D animation style wasn't my favorite, but the story makes up for it with a lot of heart. The short centers on a young pig who has a very important task. He is the Dam Keeper, in other words he is in charge of operating a large windmill at the entrance of the city which keeps all the pollution out. But that isn't the only darkness that the pig has to face. In school the rest of the kids make fun of him and he is constantly bullied by everyone. This is a darkness which he doesn't know how to face. When a young new fox arrives at the school the two become close and he learns that through drawing he can find a new means of expression. The story is emotionally engaging and we sympathize for the main character and how he is alienated from the rest of the kids. The only dialogue in the film is voiced by a narrator (Lars Mikkelsen), the rest of the story is told through the animation and its accompanying score. There is an interesting resemblance going on between the darkness that the pig faces to protect the city and the darkness he faces in his own personal life. The Dam Keeper is a rare animated film that manages to make an impact on the audience despite its short run time. http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/

The Dam Keeper is my choice for the best of the animated shorts and I think the quality difference between this and the rest of the films is pretty obvious. Like The Bigger Picture, this one has the look of a painting--which is quite unusual for an animated film. But the paintings are of a much higher quality and there is an amazing artistry that set this one apart---it just looks great. While the style isn't quite as lush as Petrov's style (but whose is?!), it is gorgeous and the filmmakers, Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi, used over 8000 paintings to make this short film. The story is very sentimental and sweet--and not in way that is cloying or over the top. It left me feeling satisfied and I love the website for the film (https://www.thedamkeeper.com/) and it's nearly as creative as the film itself.UPDATE: This film lost to the Disney short. Perhaps it might sound snarky, but I assume many of the folks who voted for these films probably didn't see them all---and "Feast" was the only one that had widespread release (with "Big Hero 6"). That's the only way I could explain "The Dam Keeper" not winning.

'THE DAM KEEPER': Four Stars (Out of Five)An 18 minute animated short; which was nominated for an Academy Award, for Best Animated Short Film, at the upcoming 87th Academy Awards. It was written and directed by Robert Kondo and Daisuke 'Dice' Tsutsumi and it's narrated by Lars Mikkelsen. The film tells the story of a future world of animals, that rely on a pig to constantly operate a large windmill dam; in order to keep dangerous pollution out. The pig is an outsider, who's constantly bullied by other animals at school. That changes when a new student comes to town; a friendly fox that befriends him. Things suddenly go really well for the pig, until he feels unexpectedly betrayed. The short is very dark and kind of frightening for kids; I know my eight-year old nephew thought it was pretty scary (but he also loved it). I could really relate to how harassed and somewhat alone the pig felt, due to the constant bullying. I think this is one of the stronger 2015 Oscar nominated animated shorts; because of it's relatability to kids. It's also really well made and bizarrely interesting!Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://youtu.be/D17O2xOoOCw