Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Robert Reynolds This short won the Academy Award for Animated Short. There will be spoilers ahead: This short is based on a book written by Shaun Tan, who also adapted this for the screen as well as co-directed. There really isn't a false note here. This is beautifully animated, excellently paced, the narration is superb and it keeps your interest throughout.Essentially, this is the narrator looking back to an incident earlier in his life where he found "something", "a lost thing", something which seemed completely out of place, which nobody else seems to either notice or care about. The boy goes about trying to find someplace where the "lost thing" will no longer be "lost", but instead will find its place.I found it fascinating to watch this around the edges of the main story, because there are a lot of little things going on here which are nice to spot as the story unfolds. There's a steampunk feel to this that I enjoyed particularly. The ending is bittersweet, particularly the final bit of narration at the close.This short is on a Blu Ray/DVD combo release by Shorts International comprised of Academy Award winning animated and live action shorts. The compilation itself is quite good and well worth getting. This short is marvelous and is most highly recommended.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) This film is the 2010 effort from Asian-Australian writer-director Shaun Tan that won him the Oscar in the animated short category over such prestigious competition like Pixar or the Centre National de la Cinématographie. I wouldn't want to be the judge if it's the best of the year, but it's surely a cute piece of animation with an interesting story and it fits story-wise very well in with Toy Story 3 winning the full-length animation prize that year.We meet a boy who finds a giant red creature with tentacles, plays with it for a while just as if it's a dog. They have a fun time at the beach building sandcastles, but as the moment of farewell moves closer and everybody would go his way again, the boy realizes that his new companion is lost and has nowhere to go. So he first takes it home, then, after the parents complain, puts it in the shed while trying to find out where it came from, on his own and with the help of a friend. But no success. Finally, he takes it to a lost property office hoping somebody came asking for it. But is this how it ends? It's a nice little tale on misfits that offers an uplifting ending and an interesting moral (maybe that was what lifted this one above the other nominated films to Oscar glory) that finds a good balance and is not too much in the viewer's face. It's not a real standout in regard to anything, animation, story or voicework, but the combination of all the aspects resulted in a thoughtful overall result. Recommended and I'm curious about Tan's work in the future. I'd really like to see a feature film from him, maybe even centering around The Lost Thing.

Igor Dalmy The Lost Thing is a 15 minute animated short film based on the highly acclaimed picture book by multi award winning author and illustrator, Shaun Tan, that says to have been influenced by Tim Burton, Francis Bacon and Rene Magritte. I will not dare to write a piece about Tan's life and work, but, by these influences, you can have an idea of how this movie will be shown: with subliminal meanings and metaphors. As this short film was adapted from the children's book of same name, you shall watch it through the eyes of a child, that is now knowing the world it lives. I believe the metaphor created successfully by Shaun means to a kid that the world it was born at is a place of bitter people that lost their brightness; they do not care about life and happiness anymore; but you must not care about it. You are special the way you are, and you will find your place in the world some day; not among the others people, but among equal friends who will comprehend your feelings and make you happy. And by its signification, watching this 15 minutes film worth it.

MartinHafer This Australian film is about a young man who finds a very bizarre looking 'thing' at the beach. He has no idea WHAT it is and no one else seems to care or notice. He makes it his job to try to find out where it goes. In the end, he finds a strange land filled with LOTS of strange creatures.While far from my favorite of the 2011 nominees for Best Animated Short, this is still a very nice film and I enjoyed seeing it. I went to the theater with a friend to see this and we both agreed it was not very likely to win the award--mostly because the story is its weakest aspect. But, I should say that it DID have amazingly wonderful animation. The computer animation is truly wonderful--high quality, unique and impressive. So, in my case, while I didn't love the story (it was a tad weak), the film looked so great that I didn't mind too much. My advice is that it you see it, turn off your brain and enjoy.UPDATE: I was surprised, but just moments ago I saw that "The Lost Thing" won the Oscar for Best Animated Short. To me, this was a surprise!