The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello (2005)

I consider "The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello" to be a fairly impressive short at every single level, which not only has a beautiful animation style but also a rich and fascinating plot.Visually speaking, The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello" is flawless, having a magnificent atmosphere and stylish designs, with a visual aesthetic heavily influenced by the works of Lotte Reiniger. The result is in my opinion, simply breathtaking.The story takes cues from the literary works of Jules Verne and Gothic fiction the 18th century, resulting in something quite dark but captivating at the same time, which never fails to the amaze the viewer. It could be sad, even slow at moments, but for me, it never stops being interesting.From beginning to the end, "The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello" shows a brilliance that hardly could be achieved by other films that use the Steampunk elements in a shallow manner.

Mind bogglingly animated tale of a world where people fly instead of sail, its tale of a navigator called into service after a tragedy only to find himself on a voyage of a life time.One of the best looking animated films,I've ever seen. This is a film filled with very Victorian and steam punkish images and contraptions. Its great to look at. The story about a man taking a job a a means of redemption and then having things begin to go wrong though no real fault of his own is the sort of things that make for grand adventure. I really fell in love with this film and by the time it was over found myself clamoring for if not a sequel (I want to see what happened next) at least another film set in the same world. One of the best animated short films in many a year.

In a Victorian world of steam driven air ships Jasper Morello is an aerial navigator haunted by a mistake he once made that caused the death of one of his crew. He leaves his home with his wife ill with the fatal plague sweeping the country and joins a mission with Doctor Belgon seeking a possible remedy for the disease but also redemption of his soul. The mission looks like it will be a success but with Belgon maddened with his discovery, Morello must decide if the terrible price is worth paying.Nominated for an Oscar, this animated short is a great piece of work. The plot has elements of old Jules Verne adventures in the design but it is seeped in a wonderfully dark, Gothic air that runs from the animation through the music into the story and characters. Those not used to short films might moan at how the plot moves quickly and how it is quite superficial. These are fair comment but can be forgiven by the nature of this film, besides the film has much to cover minor issues. The story is engaging and well told with tragic characters complimenting the dark tone. Edgerton makes a great lead character and brings out a lot with his voice. Likewise Bakaitis is strong as the doctor while the support cast fill in the rest of the characters.The animation makes this film though. Delivered mainly in 2 dimensional shadows, the design is impressive and captures the Gothic atmosphere just right. It is full of imagination and is beautifully dark to watch. Overall then a very strong and enjoyable short film. Gothic, dark and visually impressive with a solid narrative it is just a shame that the nomination did not get the film more exposure and a bigger audience.

As short horror films go, this is one of the best I've seen in recent years. The story is genuinely chilling and the cut-out animation style is a perfect fit for old-fashioned narrative. Capturing the creepy essence of classic writers like Blackwood, Lovecraft, and Poe, this film is a mini-masterpiece and well worth tracking down. Fans of animation may notice a slight stylistic resemblance to some of the works of the brilliant Karel Zeman, although Zeman's work was seldom as intense or scary. The only problem I have with the film is that the disk is PAL encoded and won't play on standard North American DVD players.