(courtesy IMDb)
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The film follows the journey of a child who discovers a curious octopus has attached to his head during a seaside vacation. After returning home, the boy forms a true friendship with the octopus by introducing his new companion to his life on land – harnessing the power of the Force with his Jedi lightsaber, playing with his Buzz Lightyear action figure, and imagining Santa Claus’ route around the world with the map on his wall – before taking the lovable octopus out into the world to experience the joy of the holidays, hidden under his Mickey Mouse beanie.While watching the Disney holiday classic, The Santa Clause (1994), the boy comes to understand the extent of the octopus’ desire to explore everything the world has to offer, and he sets in motion a plan to make it happen. (courtesy Animation World Network)
Let’s be honest upfront – The Boy & the Octopus is pretty an extended ad for Disney and Disney+
But, and it’s an important but, with talented New Zealand director and actor Taika Waititi at the helm, it is still one of the most delightfully affecting festive short films you’ll see this season.
As many, mostly European and British Christmas ads demonstrate, it is possible to tell a truly affecting and touching story even within a commercial confine, and The Boy & the Octopus is yet more proof that the short film artform can tell some truly moving stories in an astonishingly short period of time.
In just four minutes, albeit ones studded with rampant product placement for Buzz Lightyear, Goofy and Mickey Mouse and an effective ad for Disney+ when you see what platform the young boy of the piece (Solomon Horta who’s delightfully expressive), you are taken on a fantastical journey where a young boy, clearly back home in New Zealand, goes swimming in the ocean, ends up with a cute orange octopus on his head which will not let go and journeys back to Europe with his mum (Solaya Sang) where he and the octopus, who means no har, become firm and close friends.
It’s an extraordinarily fantastical story – how did the octopus get through customs for a start? – but one which turns out to be whimsically imaginative, atmospherically festive (the Christmas market is gorgeous), funny (don’t look at what the man in the sushi shop is doing!) and ultimately sweetly and charmingly moving.
Whatever the reasons for its creation, this is a short film with its Christmas heart and an eye for affecting humanity worn firmly on its green-and-red sequined sleeve, and you won’t walk away from the brief delights of The Boy & the Octopus feeling as burdened or tired as you were when you first sat down to watch it.
It’s a seasonal tonic for the soul and a reminder of how wonderful Christmas, for all its many pressures, can be.
The Boy & the Octopus streams on Disney+