Tome of the Unknown (8:58)
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This animated short was made in 2013, but I wasn't aware of it until 2014, when it was adapted into a miniseries called Over the Garden Wall. And I didn't actually see it until 2015, as a bonus feature on the DVD of the miniseries. It doesn't really tell a whole story, but rather... what seems like one chapter within a story, something that is obviously meant to be continued. It doesn't even really feel like the first chapter of a story, to me. We're introduced to a trio of characters who have already begun a quest of sorts, and despite the voiceover narration, I'm not sure I really understand the quest. (Probably because my mind takes a while to actually focus on what's going on, and if we're given a critical infodump within the first minute of something, I'll probably have forgotten it by the time the story actually gets going.) But anyway, these characters are a boy named Wirt (voiced by Elijah Wood) and his little brother, Gregory, and... a bluebird named Beatrice (Natasha Leggero). I guess they're looking for a book called the Tome of the Unknown, though I have no idea why, or whether there's even anything specific they hope to learn from it.

Before long, Greg discovers a car made out of fruits and vegetables (mainly a watermelon). Its owner turns out to be a person made out of vegetables himself, named John Crops. They drive the watermelon car toward a city, but end up crashing into a scarecrow before getting there. However, there's a social gathering nearby, and John and Greg go check it out, while Wirt tries to fix the car. (John says this is "the big city," but I'm pretty sure it's not the city Wirt and Greg were looking for, or really anything more than a small town.) And um... other stuff happens, after which Wirt, Greg, and Beatrice continue on their journey... riding a goose. (Yeah... I almost forgot to think it's strange that Wirt and Greg, whom I presume to be human, are pretty much the same size as vegetables and some animals. So it's weird that Beatrice is pretty much the size I'd expect a bluebird to be, relative to them, which seems like an inconsistency.)

Um... here's the thing. Nothing in this film makes the slightest bit of sense, but the nonsense is brilliantly animated, written, and acted. It's absurdism at its best. I just can't help but love it, both for the totally over-the-top, utterly random stuff, and for the subtle, quick lines (mainly from Wirt) that seem to simultaneously act as a counterpoint to the insanity and as a part of the insanity. (Like, actually, the things Wirt says in passing sometimes seem like the sanest possible reaction to what's going on, but at the same time, it's like he doesn't even pause to question how crazy it all is.) Conversely, Greg seems totally ridiculous (but that means he fits in perfectly with the world of the film). And Beatrice... seems kind of snarky, probably even more sensible than Wirt, and yet I get the sense she not only realizes everything around her is crazy, but also finds it amusing and plays along. I don't know... all these things are just the impression that I get from a 9-minute short, and I may be overthinking it, or I may be mistaken in my assessments. But the important thing is... it's a hell of a lot of fun. Oh, and I should also mention that the creator of the short, Patrick McHale, has worked on similarly absurd shows on Cartoon Network before this, like Adventure Time and "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack" (the latter of which I saw little of and didn't really care much for, but I do recognize the similarity of the vibe between shows). But actually, the show this film first brought to mind was The Amazing World of Gumball (though I don't think anyone who worked on that show was involved in this). And... that's all I can think to tell you, but I really look forward to watching the miniseries more than ever, now that I've seen the short that begat it.