This film was beautiful in almost every way. The animation, the music, and the story was well. This short film shows how powerful the Blender application is with hard work and determination. With more work, more workers, and more money, this could have been a feature-length production. I was pretty surprised that the actual making of the film (modeling, lighting, and animating) was done by not that large of a crew. That is because it isn't feature length, but th quality is on par with that of animations by Disney and pixar. This film should have won an Oscar for best animated short. I hope the Blender foundation continues to work on amazing films like these.

"Sintel" impressed me. Not only for the amazing quality of the animation (With a high level of realism in what concerns to the textures and effects, not to mention the expressiveness of the characters and the outstanding level of detail) but also for the way in which it deconstruct several common clichés and archetypes from several fantasy and adventure histories, giving a very tragic turn to the classical plot of the hero's "Journey". In many ways, the main character is the classic archetype of a "hero" in a fantasy history, being fiery and determined to don't give up; the fact that her intentions are pretty good and understandable made the twist at the ending something even more tragic, but I do think that this short has a valid point, even if it is very harsh: Having a noble intention and being brave (at least in the traditional sense of the word in fantasy stories) is not always a guarantee of good results or success.However, even when the ending is incredibly sad and heartbreaking (With only a very little glimpse of hope) the overall experience of "Sintel"is something very rewarding and enjoyable, being exciting and entertaining to watch. I highly recommend this short to anyone who enjoys fantasy and adventure epics.

This is a beautifully animated and skillfully executed tragic story. It hits all the key points of a classic tragedy in a way worthy of history's greatest playwrights. It has the "hero" who is good and decent but is brought down by her ambition and human frailty. It has the "reversal" when the fortune of finding her companion and overcoming the attacking dragon becomes the realization that the two are the same. This turns into the "recognition" that she has wasted her life on a quest with a flawed premise. At that moment, many things come together. She realizes how much time has passed. She finally understands the true relationship between Scales and herself. Scales moved on long ago, and what was left, what was driving her search, was her own obsession and delusion. She now sees herself for the battle-scarred killer she has become. Her quest has stolen her innocence and now, by her own hand, taken the life of the one she treasured most.The fact that the movie hits all these elements so potently in only 12 minutes is amazing. The more I watch it, the more I appreciate how well everything fits together. The foreshadowing, symbolism, and other elements throughout the movie give it a depth much greater than its length. Things that might not seem significant at first play important roles in the story. For example, Sintel appears to be an orphan, which could be seen as arbitrary back-story. However, this helps explain why she becomes so blinded to reality once Scales is taken. Scales is the only friend she has ever known, and the loss tears her apart.This powerful storytelling is then backed by animation that suits it wonderfully. There are imperfections, but the many things that are done incredibly well far outweigh any flaws. From the sense of wonder in racing up the temple, to the epic scale of Sintel's journey, to the expressions in Scales' face... it all works beautifully to magnify the story. The climax in particular pulls together story, visuals, sound and timing in a way that even the best feature films rarely achieve. I'm tempted to expound on every finely crafted detail, but it is best to just let you watch it and appreciate it yourself.To top everything off, this film is released freely under the Creative Commons license by the Blender Foundation, which also freely releases the open-source 3D modeling tool Blender used to make the movie. This means everything-- the movie, the models, the textures, the software-- EVERYTHING is freely available for anyone to use or change. That's a far cry from most movie releases that want it to be a crime to even rip your own DVD onto your computer/phone/etc.The Blender Foundation creates this and other short films to prove and improve the quality of their free 3D software, but they have done so much more here. This movie is a gift and a masterpiece.

Third short film by the Amsterdam-based Blender Foundation. Sintel is partly meant to promote the open source animation software Blender and to be used for demo-purposes (3d, 4k)by it's sponsors.But it's far more than a very crafty demo. Script and storyline are clearly worked out on a elaborate scale, comprising three different levels. One might see it as a fantasy-action movie, but it also packs a coming-of-age sideline and a sobering life-lesson.Loner Sintel (Dutch for Cinder)befriends a baby dragon an nurtures it, until it's snatched from her in a dramatic scene. The quest to find the dragon is somewhat rushed in a montage and throughout the movie some movement seems unnatural, but the amount of detail in props and background is amazing. Double so, because this was made by just 14 animators, script editor, technician and director (and numerous members of the Blender community who made props and scenes online) in just over a year, at a total cost of 400.000 euro.