Short Films

Once Upon a Snowman

  • Title: Once Upon a Snowman
  • IMDb: link

Once Upon a Snowman television review

Taking place during Frozen, “Once Upon a Snowman” offers viewers a look at Olaf‘s (Josh Gad) first few moments of life. Shoehorning the character different spots of existing archival footage taken from the film, the short places the living snowman on a parallel path to Anna (Kristen Bell) and Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) searching for Elsa (Idina Menzel). With plenty of callbacks to Frozen, Once Upon a Snowman is fun but doesn’t offer much in the way of surprises, other than explain where Olaf’s fascination with summer comes from, and is more of an odd curiosity than anything else.

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Superman – The Mechanical Monsters

  • Title: Supeman – The Mechanical Monsters
  • wiki: link

Superman - The Mechanical Monsters review

Throwback Tuesday takes a look back to one of the earliest appearance of the Man of Tomorrow on film in another of the Fleischer Studios’ Superman cartoons. “The Mechanical Monsters” offers us a nameless mad scientist using a army of robots to steal from Metropolis. The cartoon relies on one of the oldest Superman tropes of Lois Lane getting in over her head while investigating a story and needing Superman to swoop in for the rescue (although Lois does get the story). As with “The Mad Scientist,” the cartoon is most notable for its style while relying on mostly-silent storytelling (which includes the head-scratcher of Superman somehow finding the captured Lois after loosing the robot at one point). The cartoon also features the first animated sequence of Clark Kent slipping into a phone booth and emerging as Superman.

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Superman (The Mad Scientist)

  • Title: Supeman – Superman (AKA The Mad Scientist)
  • wiki: link

Superman (The Mad Scientist) review

Throwback Tuesday takes a look back to the earliest appearance of the Man of Tomorrow on film. Created by Fleischer Studios and released to theaters to be shown before feature films, the Superman cartoons were highly-stylized shorts. The first, entitled simply “Superman” (although it has been come to be known by the villain’s name) features Lois Lane chasing down a lead about a Mad Scientist threatening to use his Electrothanasia-Ray on the city. When Lois is captured, Clark Kent slips into the stock room and emerges as the Man of Steel to fight off the destruction caused by the ray and then trace it back to its source in order to save Lois.

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