Knick Knack (1992)

The Age of Commercialism

Strong and Moving!

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

***This review may contain spoilers*** This is a story of humanized toys, which reminds me of Pixar's animation films because of the huge hit of Toy Story series. A cute little snowman in a snow globe tries to escape the snow globe and company with attractive mermaids who live with tropical toys. As the easy songs is played on the background through the film, the film itself is very rhythmical and story goes with a good tempo. Although the snowman tries to escape in many ways and failed again and again, those changes of the actions with the certain tempo makes the film fun, and keep the audience expecting what the snowman do the next. The snowman cannot make it after all, and he ends up in the fishbowl, being stuck in his snow globe. The ending was a little bit rough in my opinion. I want the snowman to get out of the snow globe as the ending, because in that way, he can finally make his dream come true. He has tried a lot for getting out and hang out with mermaids, but his effort leads him to be worse trouble which he has to live in a fishbowl. I think the story will be better if it has more positive meaning that if we try something so hard, we can change how we are destined to be.

This short movie starts with an annotation: "In 1989, six years before TOY STORY, Pixar Animation Studios made this short film." Indeed, setting is a kid's room and characters are toys supposedly owned by a child. The protagonist, a snowman living in a snow globe dreams of the world outside of the dome. Right next to the dome is a tropic from which a pretty girl doll waves to him, enjoying vacation with other toys. He tries hard to get out of the glass in order to reach her, but he fails every time. Finally, after several attempts, he succeeds in "prison breaking." He looks happy to be free and to meet another pretty girl, but the snow globe lets him down once again. As you can see, the main character is a cute snowman who is always full-tilt, nonetheless whose efforts are never rewarded. Which sounds a little negative. However, because of his unyielding spirit, I could not help but cheer for him in my mind while I was watching the film. Anyone who sees this film would feel the same way.

Knick Knack is a short film about toys. A snowman which is inside a snow dome wants to get out there and have some fun. It's quite a funny film, but there is some serious side. Seeing other toys hanging out from inside the dome, the snowman wants to join them. And girl doll invites him to join them. He is really glad to be invited and tries to get out of the snow dome somehow. His efforts are kind of funny, but those show us how desperate for communication he is. He is captured in the dome and can't touch other toys. I can't laugh at him simply. His loneliness is the motivation for his actions.At last he can get out of the dome for a moment and meets a mermaid doll. When he takes a step to her, the dome falls onto him and he gets stuck in the dome again. His interactions are prevented by the dome again. Maybe the same things like this happen in our lives. The difference is just whether we can see the dome or not.

First of all, this short film is so cute. The way of drawing characters and the concept are very intimate that almost all of the people will love it. The story is how the snowman can escape from snow dorm.the tries are so funny. he tries to dig a hole in the floor. He also tries to bomb the snow dorm. he does it just for a woman he loves. He never give up even though his part of face mangles and his nose bends. His ideas are so fantastic and unpredictable so I did not feel bored.I was surprised at the ending of the film. Most people including me though he gets out from snow dorm but to be truth he coops up in another new place, fish bowl.I thought it was a bad ending. However, when I saw that a snow man finds his new loving girl, I was confident that it was a nice happy ending. It was interesting because the ending was unexpected and happy ending from another perspective.