Bunny (1998 film)
Bunny | |
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Directed by | Chris Wedge |
Written by | Chris Wedge |
Produced by | Nina Rappaport |
Edited by | Tim Nordquist |
Music by | Tom Waits Kathleen Brennan |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Running time | 7 minutes 15 seconds |
Country | United States |
Bunny is a 1998 American computer-animated short film by Chris Wedge and produced by Blue Sky Studios.[1] It was featured on the original DVD release of Ice Age from 2002[2] and its 2006 "Super Cool Edition" re-release to coincide with the release of Robots, which was also directed by Chris Wedge.
Influenced by the classic Uncle Wiggily illustrations by Lansing Campbell, the short features the music of Tom Waits.
Bunny won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1998 [3] as well a Golden Nica at the Prix Ars Electronica.[4]
Plot
Bunny, an elderly female rabbit, lives alone in a small cabin in the forest. While baking a cake one night, she is continually bothered by a large moth that keeps flying around her kitchen. No matter what she does, she cannot get rid of the intruder; she is especially annoyed when it runs into a photograph, taken many years ago, of herself and her late husband on their wedding day. Eventually she knocks it into the cake batter, which she quickly and angrily pours into a pan and shoves into the oven. She then sets the kitchen timer and falls asleep, only to be awakened by loud rumblings and blue-white light coming from the oven, whose door soon falls open. Crawling inside, she finds herself confronted by the moth and begins to float through an otherworldly space toward the source of the light, with a pair of giant moth wings sprouting from her back to propel her as the insect leads her along. She is soon revealed to be among dozens of moths being drawn to the light. The film ends with a close-up of the wedding photo, which comes to life as the younger Bunny nestles her head contentedly on her husband's shoulder; the shadows and reflections of two of the moths play across the image as well.[5]
During his introduction to the film on the Ice Age DVD, Wedge offers his take of these events: Bunny dies in her sleep, and the oven serves as a gateway to the afterlife. Her spirit is instinctively drawn into it, as a moth going toward a bright light, and is finally reunited with her husband. [6]
Accolades
- 1999: Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film (won) [7]
References
- ^ Watch 3 Early Animated Shorts by 'Epic' Director Chris Wedge Including the Oscar Winner 'Bunny' - Film School Rejects
- ^ Horn, Steven (October 29, 2002). "Ice Age". IGN. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
- ^ "The 71st Academy Awards (1999) Nominees and Winners". The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. March 21, 1999. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
- ^ "1999 Prix Winners: Computer Animation / Visual Effects". Prix Ars Electronica. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
- ^ 1999 Bunny: Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming: Internet Archive
- ^ Ice Age: Disc Special Edition - Animated Views
- ^ Short Film Winners: 1999 Oscars
External links
- 1998 films
- 1998 animated films
- 1990s American animated films
- 1990s animated short films
- 1990s computer-animated films
- American films
- Animated films about rabbits and hares
- Animated films about insects
- Best Animated Short Academy Award winners
- Best Animated Short Subject Annie Award winners
- Blue Sky Studios short films
- 20th Century Fox short films
- Computer-animated short films
- Films directed by Chris Wedge
- Films without speech
- Films about the afterlife
- Films about death