(courtesy ESMA 3D)
SNAPSHOT
When Plum hatches from his egg, the little dinosaur is not ready for the universe in which he was born. Carefree and mischievous, he roams around, watched by a dragonfly. However, his innocence is shattered when he makes a terrible discovery about his world … (courtesy YouTube / The CGBros channel)
Life is a LOT isn’t it?
Good and bad of course but when Plum, the eponymous beating heart of this delightfully evocative and charmingly serious short film, emerges from her egg multiple tens of millions of years ago, they have to deal with a great deal in a very short period of time.
Entering the world alone, they start to investigate the world around them, finding food, strange neighbours and something entirely unwelcome and more than a little existentially scary; how Plum reacts to all of these BIG THINGS powers the short which is cutely gorgeous to look at but full of some pretty amazing home truths that we all have to grapple with at some point or another.
What really makes Plum come alive is that directors Luana Bertelli, Angèle Lopez, Nicolas Delabeye, Nicolas Delabeye, Balkis Hadra and Nolan Michel, who produced the short as part of their 3D animated classes at the ESMA animation and special effects school in 2022, beautifully balance the thrill of new life and discoveries with the sage lessons of growing up which happen quite quickly, by necessity, to our wonderful protagonist.
It’s a neat balancing act that works and it imbues a film that looks light, fluffy and cute with some real depth and emotionally muscular grunt which grants Plum a real presence and lasting impact.