Oktapodi (2007) User Reviews

Two Octopuses, a Delivery Driver, a Seagull and a lot of Fun

[CihanVercan · 7/10 · 14 November 2009]

Nicely fit with a violin playing on the background; Oktapodi offers a fast paced, very well crafted short animation. It has the style of the famous "Coyote & Road Runner series" of Warner Bros:

1/ Full throttle in action and humour 2/ No dialogue based script 3/ Excellent coordination between character movements, voice-overs and sound effects 4/ Follows the beats and notes of the playing instruments to transform action into humour

Oscar nomination is very well worthy. In my opinion, this could've been won the Oscar if:

1/ Octopuses haven't been urged on like dolphins jumping out of water or like grasshoppers hopping between locations 2/ Octopuses could've been more real-like, more ugly, more dirty, more clammy, more thick-skinned 3/ The rat race could've been more outlasting

Viewable by all ages -especially children- , watchable on Youtube and downloadable on KickYoutube; Oktapodi is noteworthy.

Student Film

[vincent-274 · 8/10 · 28 February 2009]

Something I notice about the comments is that people do not seam to know that Gobelins is an Art School, so for a student film to be nominated for an Oscar, and for winning the Sigraph 08 audience and best of show award, is a great achievement. And I would have loved to have seen for them to have won the award, just to see what it would bring to them in the, animated, future.

I loved the short, the animation was original, the comic strength of the octopuses was great and the overall look, tinging and feel of the move was inspiring for an animation student as myself. The best to you all.

Make it grand.

Nice but very, very short

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 16 February 2009]

Like last year, I went to a special showing of the Oscar-nominated animated short films. However, unlike last year, in addition to the nominees, several "commended films" were also shown. In this review I'll make my predictions, though if it's anything like last year's choices, I'll probably once again pick the wrong shorts as my favorite for the award.

OKTAPODI is a cute computer generated film about two octopi who are in love. However, when the lady octopus is taken for someone's dinner, the male responds in super-hero fashion to rescue her. So, he goes bouncing about the streets of what appears to be Greece--chasing the delivery truck that has his mate.

Oddly, while this film is lovely to look at and sweet, it also is only about three minutes long--making it incredibly short to receive the Oscar nomination. Because of this, the great similarity of the work to a typical Pixar or Dreamworks film and the slightness of the plot, this film seems very, very unlikely to win the award. I enjoyed the film but by the time I was starting to really get into the film it was over!! I would really love to see what this French studio could do given a longer format, as they are very talented and clever.

UPDATE: LA MAISON EN PETITS CUBES was the winner this year. Not surprisingly, I got this one wrong but at least saw the film as a strong contender.

octopus's garden

[lee_eisenberg · 6/10 · 24 December 2016]

The French animated short "Oktapodi" tells the story of a pair of octopuses (octopi?) who refuse to get separated. It doesn't have the most sophisticated plot or animation, but I liked it. Like many cartoons, it shows that a story doesn't need words. The setting looks like a Greek village. Some of the octopus's stunts look like what we see in action flicks.

"Oktapodi" has several credited directors, including Emud Mokhberi, who spent part of his childhood in Iran and France, but is now a US citizen. It got nominated for Best Animated Short Film at he 81st Academy Awards but didn't win. It's not a great cartoon, but I think that it's worth seeing.

Oktapodi :A brilliant animation film from 'Les Gobelins' film school which reinforces the idea of lovers' will to live together.

[FilmCriticLalitRao · 10/10 · 11 September 2013]

According to "L'Agence Du Court Métrage"-a professional organization which looks after everything related to short films in France, animated shorts have an average duration of 10 minutes. If one were to judge 'Oktapodi' from that yardstick, one would be able to conclude that for an animation film,2 minutes and 25 seconds is not at all an ideal run time as not much can be conveyed in such a short duration. This aspect has been taken as a challenge by a team of animation directors at 'Les Gobelins' which has made an impressive animation film about the efforts made by two Octopi to prevent their separation at the hands of a human being and a bird.They are so determined in their quest to live together that they use all means at their disposal to fight against their rivals. The result is revealed to viewers in the form of Oktapodi-a very short animation film which does not waste any time to convey its message. It does that by coming straight to the point. The action is really fast in 'Oktapodi' and it is aided by good animation.It is rather curious to know that this film does not limit itself to children-a major audience segment for animation films. Anybody who is interested in good cinema with a penchant for a good story can watch and enjoy it.

Madcap antics!

[Polaris_DiB · 7/10 · 11 February 2009]

Anybody who's been following animation festivals are probably starting to notice the "Gobelins" production tag appearing everywhere. At least, I've seen it in the recent Animation Show, Spike and Mike, and now as an Academy Award nominee. They're pretty short shorts (this one is one of the lengthier at 2 1/2 minutes), usually mad-cap, and silent (for some reason, all of the animated shorts for this years Academy Awards are silent). In this one, an octopus is on a mad dash through the streets of Greece to save his lover from untimely death via cooking. Using every fibrous elastic muscle in his body, said octopi launch across rooftops, shoot off pulls, and belly-flop off of swimming pools with increasing inventiveness and pizazz.

The thing about most of these Gobelins shorts is that they're relatively short on the resolution, too. Like a good old fashioned Looney Tunes moment with its schadenfreude, the two octopi manage to escape the evil death dealing knife wielding human only to have other trouble arise.

--PolarisDiB

fresh air

[Vincentiu · 6 September 2014]

a small animation about love.not great, far to be memorable , but amusing, nice, lovely.a sort of gem without great ambitions but useful for few moments of free time. action, feelings and high perseverance. and the Greek air. all in the music sauce. it is one of the films who seduce. not exactly for story itself but for the grace of details, for rhythm and for crazy run. for the remember of old images and for unconventional subject. a fresh air. more about Greek spirit than the octopus love. an interesting work , not perfect but good for the manner to use the short time for present the story. so, a not bad choice for fun.

The course of true love never runs smooth.

[llltdesq · 9/10 · 12 March 2015]

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

This is an incredibly short (only a bit under two and a half minutes) cartoon. There's essentially no dialog, just a few wordless exclamations from a delivery driver.

An orange and pink octopi, clearly in love with each other, are in a tank at a market when the pink one is pulled out of the tank and sold. The orange one, knowing that this means the pink one is about to become a meal, pursues here and the chase is on. The sight of an octopus on his window shocks and angers the driver and the struggle begins.

The driver has serious anger management issues and needs to learn to watch the road. It ends up being a very bad day for him, with his delivery van winding up in the drink. Through a series of incidents, escapes and encounters, the lovers finally get rid of the driver, only to have life throw them a curve which reverses roles for the pair and starts things going again.

This short can be found here and there and is well worth seeking out. Most recommended.

Love will prevail

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 3 October 2013]

This also applies to the two sepiae in this very short Oscar-nominated French movie. In these 2.5 minutes, we see a couple of octopuses in love, but struggling to stay together when the female is taken out of the tank to be taken to a restaurant. Her partner immediately goes after the car in which she's transported and a wild chase ensues. His tenacity finally prevails and he manages to free his sweetheart as they're reunited on a washing line. It's a dangerous world though, as he quickly realizes and everything in the end points at a sequel which has not been made yet unfortunately.

There's really nothing outstanding about this short film, especially not the animation, but its Oscar nomination proves that a cute little story executed with precision and charm can sometimes be enough for a film to reach accolades and recognition. The violin music fits nicely in with the overall tone of the film as well and I'd recommend this one, especially to animation enthusiasts like myself.

Not one of the best but entertaining

[AnonymousbutDilpreet002 · 8/10 · 21 August 2020]

So this was an oscar nominee. But it's very unlike other oscar nominated shorts I know about. It is not a serious film. It's just that it is enjoyable.

I like it because it's really well made. The stunts were more realistic than full length action films. But the scenes of octopodes jumping from one pool to another, a bit too over the top.

Best thing about it is it's length. It's very short(only two minutes long). There is not a single second of time waste. Anyway, it's a good film but I doubt if I am going to remember it for a long time.

Octopodes

[ASuiGeneris · 7/10 · 1 December 2017]

The animation here is not perfect; not something comparable to what the preeminent studios do. However, take into consideration that it is from a Gobelins L'Ecole de L'Image graduate student and we are left speechless. A cute love story with tentacles, ink, chase, slingshotting, and Greece.

Regardless of merit (which is most definitely there), this short film includes two of my favorite things: Octopuses and Santorini. Then again, the word octopus does come from Greek, and the plural for octopus in Greek? Octopodes.

This had me hooked & LOLing

[injury-65447 · 10/10 · 22 May 2020]

What a great premise for a three minute short with near perfect execution.

I laughed out loud multiple times!

So charming and funny.

Very very impressive short.

Oktapodi – Finding Nemo + Ratatouille

[sashank_kini-1 · 4/10 · 10 February 2012]

One commendable job done by the creators of Octapodi was to create two cute octopuses, which are otherwise one of the most hideous looking things on the planet. I've yet to see a movie with a 'cute' spider though. Anyway, Octapodi probably spent most of its budget designing the octopuses' movements, as the locations in the film look bare and lifeless. It's as is The White Witch from Chronicles of Narnia had turned those buildings into ice.

Also, the actions were at breakneck speed, so one really gets no time to let all the action sink in. The plot is similar to the films mentioned above, but the villain here seemed absurd. At least Skinner had a valid reason to chase Remy. It really can be a gift or a curse to get an Academy Award nomination since it elevates expectations of the audience towards the film. Oktapodi is sweet but is still too green to get such a distinction.

My Rating: 4 out of 10

Short but enjoyable

[bob the moo · 31 March 2012]

An octopus in a shop loses his partner when she is plucked from the tank and loaded for shipment. The octopus gives chase through the Greek town in order to rescue her.

A very short film this one in the mould of Pixar animations. The computer animation looks good even if it does owe a debt to that studio in terms of what it does and the story allows for the delivery of a good run of chuckles and action. I did think it was just a little too short and that I could have done with a bit more edge or reference in the humour (if ever a sequence was crying out for a Raiders of the Lost Ark reference, it is the fight in the cab here) but it was still amusing and had a good firm ending. The music is a little obvious and I wasn't really loving it with its obvious Greek soundtrack, but the action on-screen mostly distracted me from it.

Fans of the Pixar shorts will enjoy this as it mostly shares qualities with those, despite being not quite of that standard. Amusing and looks good though.

Continuous Action/Nice Colorful Animation

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 22 April 2019]

There is a little bit of "Finding Nemo" in this film, but it stands on its own. The to octopi have a great love for each other, but are being kept in a tropical fish tank for some reason. One of them is sent out with a courier and the other escapes, hoping to save her. There are a series of wonderful moments that use the strong features of the octopus against the "evil" man. Good work.

Very bad movie

[ryankavanagh-92967 · 1/10 · 20 April 2023]

It is the worst movie I have ever watched in all my 14 years living on this planet it is so bad I nearly started crying while watching after watching this movie I genuinely felt so sad I went into 6 months of non stop crying and Sevier crippling depression the only reason I gave it a one star because the credits at the end made me so happy that the this horrible movie finely ended it was only like 2 minutes long but it was so bad it felt like a century. Fcdcdvfvfvfvfctcvggtvrcrcrcrcrcrcdcrcrcrcrcrvtcrcrcrcrctctctctctcrcrcrcrcrcrvrcrcrctcfcfcrcrctvthugyfrxwcdbyvrcwcfvtcsvtvevtcsctvrfrvtcevtvrctc.

lovely

[Kirpianuscus · 13 July 2017]

in simple words, it is an animation who must see again and again. not for a precise reason. maybe for memories, streets of Greek small town, the right attitude about see fruits or for not ignore a special feeling. for humor and adventure and the great end. because it is a lovely film. maybe, almost amazing. and it is not a simple, easy, too subjective definition. but only the truth.