Even Pigeons Go to Heaven (2007) User Reviews

Its okay, but I'm not sure its Oscar material

[dbborroughs · 6/10 · 22 January 2008]

This is the story of a priest trying to save the soul of a miserly gentleman by giving him a glimpse of the next life.

From a technical aspect this is great film. The detail is wonderful, look at all of the nick knacks in the small cottage, the dreaminess of heaven, and watch how the car races down the road and around the corners with everything jangling about. Its a joy to see. The characters are wonderfully amusing and expressive and I can only imagine what say The Triplets of Belleville would have looked like in this style of animation. The problem is that the characters aren't given much to do. Its basically a long build up to an okay joke.

I went searching for the film when it was nominated for an Oscar this morning. Its an amusing story that is good but not great. I can see how in the right frame of mind this is very funny. But it amused me more than it made me smile. I doubt that its going to stick in my memory.

Crooked Priest

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 2 May 2019]

A miserly man is visited by a priest. The priest has a machine that can be used to see paradise (or so he says). The old man tests out the machine. It seems wonderful, but the whole ting is a scam. What happens next makes this hilarious. There is lots of conniving and some wisdom displayed. The characters are quite wonderful.

Very funny short, complete with misers and scoundrels

[llltdesq · 8/10 · 6 February 2014]

This short was nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short. There will be spoilers ahead:

As the short opens, it's clear that technology has taken over even the job of the Grim Reaper, who gets an alert by radio to collect a client. A con man/priest eavesdrops in order to beat Death to the spot. He runs dead and his motorcycle off the road and comes to the home of the client, who is a miserly type with a red sock filled with notes and coins.

The priest/con man convinces the old man he needs something to guarantee he'll go to heaven by building a contraption to "take" him to heaven. The old man hands over the red sock of money and then there's a knock on the door.

The ending is hilarious and I won't spoil that here. The title of the short is actually a rather sly joke which becomes apparent once you see the short. This one is on a DVD collection of nominated shorts and is worth tracking down and watching. Most recommended.

ironic

[Kirpianuscus · 13 July 2017]

the irony. and the dialogues. the surprising end. and the red sock. and, sure, the vehicle. the game with ordinaries fears, desires, small sins and the moral lesson who reminds the clichés about the South France are the pillars of this admirable animation who has as special present for its public an old man , a priest and the most strange visitor. and, sure, the right music. so, a delight. or, maybe, an ironic look. about us.

This film makes a lot of sense when it is seen twice or more !!!!

[FilmCriticLalitRao · 7/10 · 16 February 2015]

This animated short film by Samuel Tourneux has death and greed as its main themes.They are considered to be serious themes but the screenplay has added numerous scenes where a lot of laughter is assured.Apart from this difference of ideology,there was some focus on the depiction of members of young as well as old generation.This helped to answers too many questions related to film's raison d'être.'Even pigeons go to heaven' is a film for all ages but very young viewers will have tough time understanding its true meaning.As they rely too much on the titles of the films they watch,it might be possible that they would wonder that there were no pigeons in the actual film.This is precisely what happened to some youngsters who watched this film in a famous school's filmmaking club.Those viewers who do not comprehend the meaning of this film are advised to watch it again.It is expected that a lot of meaning would be revealed when it is seen for the second time.

This French animated short highly deserved its Oscar nomination from yesterday

[tavm · 10/10 · 23 January 2008]

Meme les pigeons vont au paradis is one of five Oscar-nominated films in the Best Animated Short category. In this entry from France, an old man with a red bag of lots of gold coins is visited by a priest who tells him to sign something in order to insure his entry into heaven. He also brings a machine that gives the old man a "preview" of what the afterlife will look like. I'll stop there and mention that there are many amusing characteristics in the short's brief running time that abounds in the dialogue exchange between the two characters. And the way the whole thing ends is a hilarious shocking surprise! This was an excellent short that highly deserves it's important nomination that was announced yesterday. If if wins, I'd be very glad indeed!

The best of the five nominees for 2008

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 23 February 2008]

This is the day before the Oscars are announced for 2008 and I just got back from a special screening by our local film society of all five films nominated in the category of Best Animated Short Film. Of the five films, I enjoyed "Même les pigeons vont au paradis" the most and think that it deserves to win the Oscar--because of its lovely CG graphics and very clever and amusing story. However, Petrov's beautiful film about 19th century Russia was breathtakingly beautiful and might just win the Oscar. If I were a betting man, I'd bet on "Même les pigeons vont au paradis" edging out this other film.

The film begins with a frantic race between a car and moped down a country road at night. What this is all about is uncertain, but the car ultimately knocks the moped over and arrives at the house of an old man. As the driver of the car enters the house, the old man is falling from a climb to get an old liquor bottle off a high shelf and the driver jumps out to catch him. In addition to catching the old man, an old sock stuffed with money falls down as well and it's obvious the younger man wants the old guy's money. This is because he goes into a sales pitch and promises to show the old guy a way to get to heaven even if he hasn't earned it! After a bit of work, he constructs an odd looking contraption and says it's a machine that can take anyone to heaven--as long as they have the money! There is a lot of great humor along the way and a couple hilarious twists at the end, but I really don't want to spoil the fun.

Interestingly, when this film was shown, it was the only one of the five that elicited obvious reactions from the audience. There was a lot of laughing and when it was over, the run was literally abuzz with excitement. From this standpoint alone, it should be the Oscar winner tomorrow night.

2/24/08--The Oscar was just announced and the winner in this category was PETER & THE WOLF.

Stab at humor fails miserably

[drystyx · 2/10 · 14 January 2010]

This story tries to work as a "black comedy" cartoon short, but it is too long for the feeble joke it tells.

An old greedy man is saved by a character who looks like a religious figure, who tries to help him save his soul. The old greedy man is shown some contraption for getting to Heaven. To say more would be to ruin what was probably intended as a "Monty Python" surprise ending, but in fact is just not that unpredictable, and not a bit amusing.

A third character enters in the climax, the Grim Reaper, on a motorcycle. There isn't anything funny about a grim reaper on a motorcycle, and it doesn't either make sense, nor make a contrast. It looks more like the writer is just advertising motorcycle sales for himself or someone close. Way too obvious.

Monty Python could pull this off, but this was a feeble effort, and a total failure.

Entertaining and fun

[Gordon-11 · 5 October 2008]

This is a short animated film about an old man who got summoned to hell. Before the grim reaper arrives, a priest comes to the house and tries to cheat his money.

This short film is cute and pleasant to watch. The animation is cute, with soft colours throughout. Characters are appealingly designed and likable, especially Mr Mouton who looks rather cute. Even the grim reaper does not look scary. I like the plot a lot, it is comedic, warm and thought provoking at the same time. The moral message is lightly presented, and does not feel preachy. "Even Pigeons Go To Heaven" is entertaining and fun to watch.

Nice Short from France

[Michael_Elliott · 10 July 2010]

Even Pigeons Go to Heaven (2007)

*** (out of 4)

Animated French short has a priest running a motorcycle off the road so that he can reach the home of a sinning old man. The priest does all he can to get the old man to change his ways and get to Heaven but something bad happens once the motorcycle does arrive. I'm certainly not going to give away what happens but this is a pleasant little short that has some nice laughs from start to finish. The CG animation looks very good and I really enjoyed all the facial movements the characters had. The detail in these movements really caught my attention. We're not talking Pixar level stuff here but it's still very good. The story is also quite special as we've seen this type of "save your soul" stuff before yet director Samuel Tourneux adds some nice touches and really makes this thing his own.

good intentions

[Vincentiu · 30 August 2014]

a short film about good intentions. nice, bitter, lovely. great animation. the story is almost a parable about choices and justice. about the soul and the fundamental option. and, sure, about the most important answer. a film about death but in a special style because it has the humor of South France , with its subtle irony and the good intentions in skin of noble gestures. a film about justice. and about an old man for who the Heaven is beautiful but the life is better because the cognac bottle is always useful. it is not an anti- Christian movie. only a slice from old humor. not bad for remember what is real important in life. .