Grounded

Oh my goodness this was such a pleasure to watch! So beautiful & cohesive visually, and I was captured the whole way!

An absolutely and astoundingly beautiful animation. The colours, the textures, the fluid movement. Whoever is at the helm here is top of their game and should be commended on all fronts visually. How you pulled this off in 48 hours is beyond me.

The story, however (intentional or accidental), is almost a one-to-one replication of the New Zealand children’s book Flit The Flying Flop.

Absolutely amazing! To have made a visually stunning animated short film within 48Hours is no easy feat, but this duo team has smashed it out the park with this. I was encapsulated and entranced by this not only visually, but also by the simple but effective storytelling present in this animation.

End to end, this is an incredibly solid animation and I think you should pat yourself on the back for being able to achieve this within 48 hours.

Animators nationwide take notice... this might be the next evolution of what is possible in 48hours. Wow wow wow. Everything was flawless. Cute and emotionally gripping. Simple but powerful. Well done team. This is top tier!!

So my 9 and 11 year old sons reviewed every film in this heat (which we were told was family friendly...only for 'These Films Contain Adult Content' to blurt onto the screen) and in perhaps the only review that matters they gave you 7.0/10

But they're not me.

This film felt like something that would fit right into the highly curated Animation For Kids at the New Zealand International Film Festival. Brilliant with its simple yet relatable story of a ladybug desperately wanting to fly, and an odd couple being formed along the way via a neighbourhood friendly spider.

The richness of visual text is phenomenal here, sound design is really balanced and you gave these creatures heart which is incredibly hard to pull off with animation.

Progression of the film was really strong, with comedic escalations and then channeling the inner peace for a very satisfying conclusion.

My minor nitpicks are firstly this was original sound design but not an original soundtrack, and for me I do love rewarding films who make their own music at the pointy end of the comp (which this will surely get to).
Next, is the story too simple? If my kids didn't absolutely adore it then that leaves a question for me about a wider audience (though probably nothing to worry about given your award noms + romping home with audience favourite)

The elephant in the room. It IS bloody similar to Flit The Flying Flop. Most judges probably blissfully unaware. Perhaps even the filmmakers themselves are. But I'd implore you to check this out for yourselves.

A really great film in the competition, though.

This is such a sweet story with a lovely message. I think the most wholesome 48 hour film I've ever seen and a well deserved win for the competition this year! The ladybug and spider are both so cute.