Watch A Story For Free

Sorry, this movie sucks

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

"A Story" really is a title as simple as it gets and in under five minutes it tells us indeed a story of a boy and his dinosaur friend and how they are getting in the way of a power-hungry clown and his insane posse. Can they stop him from killing the king? Are they even trying? This little film is known today mostly because of Andrew Stanton from Pixar being writer and director here. He was in his early 20s and this was his first filmmaking effort. I really wondered how he'd manage at the end to get the 2 protagonists out of all these critical situations, but he eventually took an unexpected path that you really don't see too often, especially in animated films. He let the bad guys win and even trolled those more who were hoping for a happy ending by saying that the clown became far over 100 years old. I myself liked it, it was refreshing and indeed something you don't see too often, didn't see too often in the 1980s. It has its 30th anniversary this year. The fact that the two good guys, especially the Dino, were kinda rushed in introduction-wise and also not mentioned by name in the title may help you in not making a connection with them. Lets be frank here: The clown was definitely the more interesting character. I give this little film a thumbs-up. See it if you like animation and I definitely liked how Stanton was already thinking outside the box so early in his career.

This short is beautifully realized, with excellent animation and good production values. Sort of a fairy tale, but not a traditional one. Sort of Gary Larson meets the Brothers Grimm. I thought it was marvelous! Well worth the trouble to track down. Recommended.