World Record (2003)

I love this movie so much

Sorry, this movie sucks

Great Film overall

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

In this Animatrix short, the debut of Takeshi Koike (who went on to direct popular anime Redline), Dan, an athlete threatens to break through the digital rain and wake up in the real world. He runs so fast, attempting to break his 9.8 second 100-metre dash, his muscles burst but he keeps going, desperate agents watching every step.Dan does manage to wake up in his gel-pod, but is quickly put to sleep again (I guess the machines force-fed him the blue pill). Back in the Matrix he's crippled and the agents are satisfied. But he breaks the rules of being a cripple and manages to stand. It seems Dan is unknowingly realizing that there is no spoon.A good short, if a little to sparsely drawn.

On the Animatrix disc, this is the sixth short. I'm sorry to say, but this is my least favorite. I can appreciate that the animation is interesting and different. The concept is definitely deserving of attention. The voice acting is very good. However, with all the time spent on back-story, and an execution that just did not grab me(which I am willing to grant may have more to do with personal tastes), this just doesn't seem that great, especially considering what the other ones are like. This just comes off as having wasted a lot of potential. The visual style is like a grotesque caricature, and it is similar to Aeon Flux. Strangely hypnotic. It is unpleasant to watch, one bit in particular, and I would say that that is intentional. This is almost nine minutes long. The story-telling utilizes a non-linear time-line, and you have to pay attention to follow it. The DVD holds a making of, seven and a half minutes, and it, along with the commentary(not in English but with subtitles), are worth taking in. I recommend this to fans of The Matrix universe and/or science fiction. 5/10

Usually it takes a great mind and intuition to realise what the matrix is without assistance. However it can also happen for other reasons. For Dan it happens as a result of him pushing himself to his physical limits in an attempt to prove the world wrong in their accusations of drug abuse.When his muscles fail during a race, Dan keeps going. He pushes his mind beyond the physical restrictions of his body and it shows him the truth - that his body as he knows it is not real. Part of the series of animations making up the Matrix companion piece `The Animatrix', I saw this as a stand alone piece recently at a festival of shorts and animations and it stood out as being of a rather more basic visual style than some of the other shorts.The plot took a minute to settle as it messed around with back story but, once it got into the race it became more interesting as I realised why the runner was able to learn of the matrix (as described above). The animation is not quite as good - by which I mean, not to my tastes. The bleak shadowy effects are interesting but at times it was a bit too extreme. The cross over into the real world was well handled but the touches added to the agents didn't work for me and over-elaborated on characters who were perfect in the film simply because they are meant to be unmemorable and blend into a crowd.Overall this is good as it is interesting but it is not the best of the series. It is worth seeing once simply to expand on the Matrix experience but it could have used a bit more substance in place of the athlete's back story which was unnecessary and unused.

The grotesque caricatural art work is as captivating as it is repulsive, and makes watching world record an awkward experience. SPOILER: freeing himself of the Matrix through his physical prowess alone, Dan, the protagonist, is an even more fantastic character than Neo.