''Bunny'' is a 1998 American
computer-animated
Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refe ...
short film by
Chris Wedge
John Christian Wedge (born March 20, 1957) is an American animator, designer, film director, voice actor, film producer, screenwriter, and cartoonist. He is known for directing the films ''Ice Age'' (2002), ''Robots'' (2005), '' Epic'' (2013), a ...
and produced by
Blue Sky Studios
Blue Sky Studios, Inc. was an American computer animation studio based in Greenwich, Connecticut. It was founded on February 22, 1987 by Chris Wedge, Michael Ferraro, Carl Ludwig, Alison Brown, David Brown, and Eugene Troubetzkoy after their e ...
.
It was featured on the original 2-disc special edition DVD release of ''
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
'' from 2002 and the 2006 "Super-Cool Edition" re-release to coincide with the release of ''
Ice Age: The Meltdown''.
Influenced by the classic ''Uncle Wiggily'' illustrations by
Lansing Campbell, the short features the music of
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...
.
''Bunny'' won the
Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...
in 1998 as well a Golden Nica at the
Prix Ars Electronica
The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the best known and longest running yearly prizes in the field of electronic and interactive art, computer animation, digital culture and music. It has been awarded since 1987 by Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria) ...
.
Plot
Bunny, an elderly female rabbit, lives alone in a small cabin in the forest. While baking a cake one night, she is continually bothered by a large
moth
Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...
that keeps flying around her kitchen. No matter what she does, she cannot get rid of the intruder; she is especially annoyed when it runs into a photograph, taken many years ago, of herself and her late husband on their wedding day. Eventually, she knocks it into the cake batter, which she quickly and angrily pours into a pan and shoves into the oven. She then sets the kitchen timer and falls asleep, only to be awakened by loud rumblings and a blue-white light coming from the oven, whose door soon falls open. Crawling inside, she finds herself face-to-face with the moth and begins to float through an otherworldly space toward the source of the light, with a pair of giant moth wings sprouting from her back to propel her as the insect leads her along. She is soon revealed to be among dozens of moths being drawn to the light. The film ends with a close-up of the wedding photo, which comes to life as the younger Bunny nestles her head contentedly on her husband's shoulder; the shadows and reflections of two of the moths play across the image as well.
During his introduction to the film on the ''Ice Age'' DVD, Wedge offers his take of these events: Bunny dies in her sleep, and the oven serves as a gateway to the afterlife. Her spirit is instinctively drawn into it, as a moth going toward a bright light, and is finally reunited with her husband.
Accolades
*1999:
Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...
(won)
Short Film Winners: 1999 Oscars
/ref>
References
External links
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{{Blue Sky Studios
1998 films
1998 computer-animated films
1998 short films
1990s American animated films
1990s animated short films
Animated films about rabbits and hares
Animated films about insects
Animated films without speech
Best Animated Short Academy Award winners
Best Animated Short Subject Annie Award winners
Blue Sky Studios short films
20th Century Fox short films
Computer-animated short films
Films directed by Chris Wedge
Films about the afterlife
Films about death