Lorenzo (2004)

Good movie but grossly overrated

Good concept, poorly executed.

Admirable film.

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Horrible. If I saw this as a child I would be terrified. Definitely should not be rated G, and no parents should be duped into thinking this is suitable for children because it's by Disney. Watching this as a child would be a traumatic experience.

"Lorenzo" is a 5-minute animated short film from over 10 years ago. This one won an Annie Award and was nominated for an Oscar, where it lost to Chris Landreth's take on Ryan Larkin. But back to this little Disney tale here. Mike Gabriel tells us about a fat blue cat who acts very boastfully, but runs into a little black cat with magic powers. From that moment on, the title character's tail has its own identity. After some fighting and dancing, Lorenzo decides enough is enough and tries to cut it off. Will he succeed? Lots of wild music and dancing sequences in here, but in terms of the story, I was really hoping for more, even if it's only a 5-minute film. It may be a good lesson to animators in terms of style and technique that give it almost a film-noir look, but for general audiences, it is not that interesting really. Thumbs down.

"Lorenzo" is an interesting sort of experimental film but even though it's from Disney, it's an animated film that no doubt would appeal more to the adults out there than kids. This is because the film is set to very loud tango music and the usual sound effects and style are absent. This isn't a complaint...it's still a very nice cartoon. The story begins with a very spoiled cat enjoying the life of luxury--and not caring the least for the poor and hungry cats just outside his house. When a cat missing a tail comes by, Lorenzo is sure to rub it in that he has a beautiful and long tail. And, because of this, he is taught a lesson as the tailless cat is magical...and makes Lorenzo's tail come to life on its own. Lorenzo is terrified because the tail wants to do his own thing and so he tries a bunch of funny (and brutal) methods to get rid of the pesky tail. A cute story about karma.

This cartoon was nominated for the Academy Award for Short Film, Animated, losing to Ryan. There will be spoilers ahead: Lorenzo is a very short (just over four minutes long) and incredibly funny cartoon which, if I understand correctly, was originally intended to be in the third Fantasia feature, which was shelved. It certainly would fit and would have been one of the highlights had they made the feature.The plot is a simple one. Lorenzo is a spoiled and self-indulgent cat with a luxurious tail. First, we see Lorenzo, lounging and eating shrimp cocktail, with several bedraggled and obviously hungry cats watching him. Lorenzo mocks them by drawing a sad face on the window (there's no dialog in the short).The cats watching Lorenzo scatter when a black cat comes out of the night moving towards them. The cat has the stub of a tail and a rather eerie and malevolent look to him. Lorenzo taunts him by waving his tail about and stroking the fur. Unwisely, as it turns out that the black cat casts a spell on Lorenzo's tail, bringing it to life.Lorenzo's tail then grabs Lorenzo and makes him dance the tango with it. It's basically just that one joke from this point on, but it's a magnificent one and the visual gags are priceless! I won't spoil them by mentioning them here, but suffice it to say that Lorenzo isn't a happy kitty at all here! Stay through the ending and the credits, as there's a very nice bit in here.This short has just recently been released on a Blu-Ray/DVD collection of recent Disney shorts (Walt Disney Short Films Collection) and it and the Blu-Ray/DVD combo release are both most recommended.