animation is unfortunately a very commercial medium. In order to get your work made on a professional level it has to be something that parents would want to show their kids. As this is a student film, students want something that will look good on their showreel. Simple stories with simple plots work well for this because you can focus entirely on the animation rather than the plot. It’s hard to subvert expectations in a three minute film script. There are other much darker films from that year (one about suicide as I recall). But this is the best from that year’s films.

Easily the cutest thing I’ve seen all day.

Loved when they were running. Reminded me of that computer animation with the octopi.