The ChubbChubbs

The first all-CGI short from Sony Pictures' character animation and visual effects company, Imageworks, Eric Armstrong's The ChubbChubbs took home the Oscar for 2002's Best Short Film (Animated). Set on Planet Glorf, the storyline follows Meeper (voiced by Brad Simonsen), whose janitorial duties at the intergalactic dive Ale-E-Inn are interrupted when he imagines himself replacing the diva onstage singing Aretha Franklin's "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" (he amusingly botches the lyrics) and accidentally knocks over his cleaning bucket, short-circuiting the diva's act. Tossed out on his ear ("you'll never work on this planet again!"), Meeper encounters a Jar Jar Binks-like alien (the film is full of sci-fi characters inspired by Star Wars, Alien, Lost in Space, E.T., etc.) who warns that the ChubbChubbs are coming--a message that Meeper, in turn, tries to convey to his former employers, with comic results. The final standoff between Meeper (who endearingly yells "holy shoot!"), the ZyZaks, and the ChubbChubbs offers a smile-producing surprise twist (and be sure to stick around after the credits for one last comic bit). Surely one of the shortest DVDs ever released (the extras consist of nine[!] trailers for upcoming Columbia TriStar theatrical/home video releases), this is still no different--time-wise--from the children's shorts released on video by Weston Woods or Spoken Arts (only much less expensive). Highly recommended. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)