"More" from over 15 years ago is an early career effort by writer and director Mark Osborne ("Kung Fu Panda"). It was Oscar-nominated, runs for 6 minutes and the music in it also has a touch of Asian to it like his most famous work, even if this short film here really has no Asian background unless it's criticism against the working system there. Anyway, this looks somewhat futuristic as we watch a character who looks as depressing as depressed when he is off to his job just like every day. He gets pushed around by his superiors and it seems he is pretty unhappy with the situation. One day, he makes a great invention and turns into one of these superiors himself. But that rise comes with a cost. I have to say the animation was okay and the contrast between the real world and what we saw through these glasses was impressive. Yet it is too much of a generalization in my opinion that the demise in terms of character always comes with getting a better position in your company. All in all, I wished this could have been better. Osborne certainly has the talent for more than what he came up with here. The again, he still only was in his 20s and obviously improving. Not recommended.

This is a very interesting animated film and I understand that it is trying to tell us that having stuff doesn't make us happy--I do get it. However, in the end, this is a decent idea but I really don't understand all the rapturous applause for it. Now understand, I did like the film--but for it to an Oscar nominated film? I dunno, but it just didn't seem that amazing. Now this doesn't mean that all the animations I like are simple cartoons or I am an idiot--I just didn't love it. And, no, it isn't because I am a plebe--heck, I really liked Petrov's really artsy award winning shorts (such as THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA and MERMAID). But MORE just seemed like a nice idea--but not great.Now as for the technical merits of the film. The animation is very nice and the music effectively oppressive. It all worked together well.See it for yourself--maybe you'll love it, too. But I wonder if the average schmo out there will agree that it's THAT good.

More seems to get better and better with each viewing. Maybe it's because I come closer to tears each time. This story is the classic story of someone who finally is able to reach his dreams, but ends up using it as a means to get material gain, and finally, loses his soul. The gray of the drab, industrial world our everyman lives in is brilliantly and hauntingly contrasted by the colors of the "Happy Product", his world's artificial joy Du jour, the colorful, traditionally(yet so unconventionally) animated dream world of his "Bliss" goggles, and the tragically joyful children of his dreams, which drive him mad. The mood is set incredibly by New Order's "Elegia", a beautiful instrumental piece. This piece deserved the Oscar, which the good but just plain odd "Bunny" won instead. I mean, it was nice, but like most early Blue Sky works, the animation is clunky, and... rabbits becoming moths after death... but I digress. This is an incredible piece. Watch it online. Better yet, buy the new 2-disc DVD set, crammed to the bin with gooey clay features.

This is an absolutely astonishing short work concerning the meaning of life and what can not be manufactured in a synthetic factory. It presents a proletarian (in fantastic clay-mation) day in and day out, as he works in a factory assembly line building impersonal products to keep society happy. His dream is to one day create a new life affirming 'lense machine', for he is also an inventor with ingenuity. In his struggles, he continues having glimpses of children playing around a merry-go-round and they are in vibrant color, while laughing and involved with joy. His dream is achieved, and then he becomes an over zealous capitalist who is sitting all alone in his skyscraper office, after directing the harsh void of the assembly line that manufactures his new product. In the fleeting time that this short film runs, one gathers that it is something stupendous and magnificent, and the true satisfaction of creativity is not how many products one sells but the "fire that burns within"...The song by the band 'NEW ORDER', is also melancholy, which adds to the ambiance, and is a joy to listen to. Strongly recommended! Look for it on Sci-Fi channel's "Exposure" or on PBS "High Intensity TV".