This short was done by George Pal as a Puppetoon and was adapted from the Dr. Seuss story. Given that I can't really discuss this short without some details, there will be spoilers ahead:
This is a visually interesting short, which uses the text of the story as the narration but departs significantly from the story in certain details, likely to increase the vividness of the short to the eye of the audience. As a result, the short actually suffers somewhat from the changes.
One of the biggest problems is that, after a while, the very vivid contrasts from hat to hat becomes distracting and the eye begins to focus on the hats themselves to the detriment of the rest of the short, which is different from the story, where most of the hats are actually the same and it's only rather late in the game that the hats change, with each hat being more impressive than the previous one, with the final hat the most spectacular one. Here, the first hat is impressive and the hats are each different and veer off of a linear progression, with some subsequent hats comical or plain mixed in with visually fascinating examples. The effect detracts.
The short largely follows the story and it's worth watching, but the only reason I can see for it receiving an Academy Award nomination is that the detail in the short knocks your eyes out. Other than that, this is only mildly diverting.
The short has recently been included in a Blu-Ray release of The Puppetoon Movie done in 2013 by a boutique specialty house and limited to 3000 copies. The Blu-Ray is itself excellently done and has this short and six others new to commercial home release included as extras. The Blu-Ray is well worth getting and this short is worth seeing. Recommended.
This is a visually interesting short, which uses the text of the story as the narration but departs significantly from the story in certain details, likely to increase the vividness of the short to the eye of the audience. As a result, the short actually suffers somewhat from the changes.
One of the biggest problems is that, after a while, the very vivid contrasts from hat to hat becomes distracting and the eye begins to focus on the hats themselves to the detriment of the rest of the short, which is different from the story, where most of the hats are actually the same and it's only rather late in the game that the hats change, with each hat being more impressive than the previous one, with the final hat the most spectacular one. Here, the first hat is impressive and the hats are each different and veer off of a linear progression, with some subsequent hats comical or plain mixed in with visually fascinating examples. The effect detracts.
The short largely follows the story and it's worth watching, but the only reason I can see for it receiving an Academy Award nomination is that the detail in the short knocks your eyes out. Other than that, this is only mildly diverting.
The short has recently been included in a Blu-Ray release of The Puppetoon Movie done in 2013 by a boutique specialty house and limited to 3000 copies. The Blu-Ray is itself excellently done and has this short and six others new to commercial home release included as extras. The Blu-Ray is well worth getting and this short is worth seeing. Recommended.