Bob's Birthday (1994)
Margaret Fish is planning a surprise party for her dentist husband, Bob. Meanwhile, at the office, Bob is having a mid-life crisis while insects munch on what's left of his plants. When Bob returns home, Margaret has a terrible time getting him into the room where everyone's hidden until he's halfway through changing clothes and talking about how horrid all their nebbishy friends are (the same friends hidden all over the room).
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The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
The acting in this movie is really good.
The acting in this movie is really good.
The winner of Best Animated Short Film at the 67th Academy Awards is a look at middle age. I understand that "Bob's Birthday" became the inspiration for an animated series. I've never seen the series, so I can only focus on this story of a dentist's misgivings about reaching middle age while his wife invites their friends over for a birthday party.I should note that this is a mature cartoon, but in my opinion that improves it. The cartoon doesn't sugar-coat or dumb anything down. It treats the characters with respect the whole time. It also brings to mind the fact that the millennials will start reaching middle age in a few years. That creates all the more incentive for us to check out "Bob's Birthday". I recommend it.
Next time I'm scheduled for a teeth cleaning (or worse) I'll pop this DVD in to give me something to think about while he starts drilling! Picturing my dentist doing "Bob's Elephant Routine" will be a distraction almost as good as novocain. The surprise party Margaret plans for Bob goes wrong in a way that makes my party faux pas pale by comparison. But I really can relate to Bob's birthday anxieties, although, luckily I haven't reached the big four-oh, yet.I'm glad this got expanded into a series but you really should see the short that started it all. For your own copy, go to www.Filmporium.com. For five dollars you can pick up this DVD, which also includes "Aria", a short, stop-motion puppet interpretation of "Madame Butterfly" and the risqué, fun "Girl's Night Out".
Funny animated short film that gave birth to the series, which I must admit, I haven't really followed. In this short, Bob turns 40. Margaret organize a surprise party, but she'll get a few surprises of her own! While she's preparing kebabs and the dogs are choking on the same ball, Bob is hit by middle-age crisis. His fear is to "wrinkle up like a piece of fruit". Maybe it's time to have children. Maybe Margaret doesn't find him sexy anymore. Maybe he should fall to temptation and have an affair with his younger secretary. Maybe ophtalmology is really his destiny! Lots of question and lots of laughs in this one.Seen at home, in Toronto, on December 29th, 2004.79/100 (***)
This short justly won the Academy Award and is probably one of the two short produced by the National Film Board of Canada (the other is The Cat Came Back) that most people would have seen than any other work done under their umbrella. Excellent and hilariously funny, particularly Bob's semi-meltdown under circumstances that his wife Margaret would just as soon forget. Beware of surprises. Available from the NFBC, relatively easily for Canadian citizens, a bit more complex for non-Canadians, but worth it either way. Most joyously recommended by a somewhat less neurotic, just-turned-42 Robert!