Kid's Story (2003)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Shinichirô Watanabe

Writers:

Larry Wachowski (story) and
Andy Wachowski (story) ...
(more)

Genre:

Animation | Sci-Fi | Short

Plot:

A teenager's dreams which conclude with him falling off a building, lead him to believe that the reality he lives in, may not be so real after all.

Plot Keywords:

Cellular Phone | Dream | Fall From Height | Skateboard | Chase

Cast

Clayton Watson	...	Michael Karl Popper (The Kid) (voice)
Keanu Reeves	...	Neo (voice)
Carrie-Anne Moss	...	Trinity (voice)
John DeMita	...	Teacher (voice)
Kevin Michael Richardson	...	Cop (voice) (as Kevin M. Richardson)
James Arnold Taylor	...	Miscellaneous Voices (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hiroaki Hirata	...	(voice)
Hikaru Midorikawa	...	(voice)
Fumihiko Tachiki	...	(voice)
Hiromi Tsuru	...	(voice)
Yûsaku Yara	...	(voice)

Directed by
Shinichirô Watanabe

Writing credits
Larry Wachowski		(story) and
Andy Wachowski		(story)
Shinichirô Watanabe		(written by) (as Shinichiro Watanabe)

Produced by
Eiko Tanaka	....	producer

Original Music by
Don Davis

Casting by
Jack Fletcher

Art Direction by
Kazuhisa Asai

Art Department
Kazuko Katsui	....	art
Marefumi Niibayashi	....	art
Minoru Nishida	....	art
Seiki Tamura	....	art
Mariko Tasaki	....	art

Sound Department
Eddie Kim	....	sound effects designer
James Azizi Penny	....	sound effects recordist

Animation Department
Masashi Ando	....	key animator
Hideki Hamazu	....	key animator
Chiharu Haraguchi	....	inbetween animator
Shinji Hashimoto	....	animation director
Shinji Hashimoto	....	character designer
Shinji Hashimoto	....	key animator
Yasuhiro Irie	....	key animator
Hidetsugu Ito	....	key animator
Emiko Iwayanagi	....	inbetween animator
Yukari Kaku	....	inbetween animator
Kazuya Kimura	....	inbetween animator
Chizuko Kusunoki	....	inbetween animator
Norio Matsumoto	....	key animator
Hiroshi Nakanishi	....	inbetween animator
Kazuto Nakazawa	....	key animator
Rie Niidome	....	inbetween animator
Sae Niraduka	....	inbetween animator
Kazuya Nomura	....	inbetween animator
Gosei Oda	....	inbetween animator
Shin'ya Ôhira	....	key animator
Kyuma Oshita	....	key animator
Junko Sanuki	....	inbetween animator
Miwa Sasaki	....	key animator
Hideki Sekiguchi	....	inbetween animator
Yutaka Sumi	....	inbetween animator
Naoto Takemoto	....	inbetween animator
Osamu Tanabe	....	key animator
Ushio Tazawa	....	inbetween animator
Norimoto Tokura	....	key animator
Akie Tsutsumi	....	inbetween animator
Chie Uratani	....	key animator
Keiko Watanabe	....	inbetween animator
Shinichiro Yamada	....	key animator

Other crew
Jack Fletcher	....	voice director

Production Companies

• Studio 4°C

Also Known As:

The Animatrix: Kid's Story (USA) (series title)

Runtime:

UK:15 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Finland:K-15

Company:

Studio 4°C

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: During the first part of the short, where Mr. Popper is typing, his keystrokes are inconsistent with what appears of the screen.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Hard Problem: The Science Behind the Fiction (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

WHO AM I (ANIMATRIX EDIT)

Stylish but plot-light

A teenager has dreams of falling that feel more real than his actual life. He turns to the internet for answers and receives some cryptic replies via his PC. In school his mobile phone rings despite being turned off, he answers to be told by Neo that `they know you know and are coming for you'. The kid looks out the window to see men in dark suits coming for him and immediately flees on his skateboard.

In Reloaded there is a scene where Neo and Trinty return to Zion and are greeted by an eager kid who offers to carry Neo's stuff because Neo `saved his life'. I didn't understand who this was when I saw the film and it add to the appearance of a film with lots of loose ends it doesn't tie up. Only later did I see this short and realise that the `loose end' was actually a connection to this short. This is an interesting way to build a wider world around a film but when watching Reloaded I only felt it weakened the actual film. Anyway – the short.

The film is stylish and interesting. Plot wise it is similar to the discovery of Neo in the first film but it is done on miniature here. The main attraction is the visual design. The skateboard escape is all blurs and speed while the falling is nicely done and beautifully animated. It may not win any points for having a gripping plot but visually it worked for me.

The novelty of having Reeves and Moss supply the voices to their characters is just that – a novelty, they only have a few lines and I wouldn't have known it was them but for the cast list.

Overall this is an stylish if wafer thin short that is interesting because it supports the Matrix Reloaded. Before I saw this I had taken this strand of the story to be another area left unanswered by the film, having seen this I understand what it was about and am only left in doubt about the wisdom of doing it this way.