Cuckoo, Mr. Edgar!

Featuring one of the most original storylines I've seen in quite some time, this computer-animated short opens with the titular cuckoo, Mr. Edgar, passing the time between hourly appearances by dusting, re-arranging his books, and working with his stamp collection inside his outdoors-mounted cuckoo clock. Until midnight, that is, when a thunderstorm not only severs a tree branch that knocks Mr. Edgar off his perch, but also deposits three eggs on his retractable platform...eggs that end up back inside Mr. Edgar's cuckoo clock. How this mechanical bachelor bird, suddenly confronted with three real, live hungry chicks, manages his newfound role as ersatz father makes for a wonderfully humorous and heartwarming tale. Whether capturing worms in a jar, attempting to teach the finer points of avian flight from his reference books, or soaring into the heavens on the back of one of his de facto children, Mr. Edgar proves that caring is sometimes more important than biology when it comes to raising young ones. Beautifully animated with vibrant colors and eye-catching shapes, Pierre M. Trudeau's winsome fable is highly recommended. Aud: K, E, P. (R. Pitman)