Jumbo

Wow. Stunning little animation about a giant monster rising up in Wellington harbour and discovering that they have quite the affection for planes. In fact those planes look quite tasty blowing around in the wind. This also incorporated live action elements but by keeping it focused on the monster and the plane plus his instrument of doom it gave the film clear direction. Sound design was terrific.

I really enjoyed this. The humour, the effects, the Wellingtonness of it. I haven't seen many films blend animation with live action in the 48 Hours and this made for a nice change.

I'm on a mission to see and review all 2019 films that get to the screening film but this is going to be a pretty laborious challenge if there are more films like this. I appreciate that animation comes with its own challenges and on top of that you combined it with live action but if you're going to be that ambitious you've got to be able to come up with more like this. Giant comes out of the see, causes havoc with a few planes and eats one, doesn't really get me going at all. Looks like it's just me if the two other reviews are anything to go by but I'd be interested to see how this was received by a larger sample of people.

Some may find this laborious but I liked the short-n-simple nature of this film. The mesh of animation and live-action works well (nice roto work) and I like the use of physical Wellington icons being the monster’s playthings and how it observes its surroundings. Though there isn’t really a story, it truly is nature running amok.

Jumbo is an oversized childlike animated character creating his own amusement in the Wellington harbour. Blending animation with live action was a great stylistic choice which I found refreshing. Although this film was short, I expect this with an animation in 48Hours and I commend the team for their attention to detail - the impressive animation, great sound design, the weight of Jumbo's footsteps emphasised with camera movement also the bendy wind wand, it made it look like a toothpick. This film is all about playing with scale, with a seamless integration of the required elements and the genre. I loved seeing Jumbo's instagram posts, he lives on beyond the film - this is some clever marketing which we don't see much in the comp! Well done for winning best animation in Wellington!

Ness has already written an eloquent review for this film but I did just want to add for the filmmaker's benefit that my kid watched it 5 times in a row and asked me to tell the filmmakers that it was excellent.