Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Jumping" is a 6.5-minute animated short film by the late Japanese writer and director Osamu Tezuka. He made it in 1984, five years prior to his death, so this one is already over 30 years old. It is basically about a child jumping, but the action turns quickly away what happens in the street where the child lives. Instead, it takes audiences to a journey across the entire globe. I must say this does not make any sense really as the child has never seen these places and it cannot jump as high as it does in this film. My only explanation is that Tezuka wanted to show us that there are no boundaries to the creativity of a child's mind, but even with that approach I cannot say it worked well and comes off as slightly pretentious. The animation is decent for 1980s, nothing too great or bad. But the story in here is really just a collection of mostly forgettable impressions that don't make any sense really in the whole context. I do not recommend the watch.
Rectangular_businessman
A funny and original gag-short directed by the Astroboy creator Osamu Tezuka in the eighties, being one of his most creative experimental animations.Even when the premise seems like something far too simple, it is how it is presented what this short work so well: "Jumping" takes a first person perspective in order to show what the main character of the short (A kid, apparently) finds as he starts to make higher and higher jumps, going to several different places, always with funny and surprising results.The animation of this short is pretty well done, having a unique and atypical visual style which is completely different to any other Japanese animation that I've seen before; having a completely different aesthetic of what is commonly associated with anime. There sceneries are particularly well done, having some of them details that could be appreciated after several viewings.This is a great example of experimental animation from the world, being highly imaginative, unpredictable and entertaining.
tavm
Directed by Osama Tezuka, Jumping is one of the best entirely hand drawn animated shorts from the late '80s. After the title sequence with the credits quickly going up and down, we see point-of-view jumping shots going from the suburban neighborhood to some forests to some seascapes to over some tall city buildings to many war-torn areas to a giant mushroom cloud to hell twice with both times the devils trying to get you with their pitchfork to finally back to the beginning neighborhood where we hear a little child joyously crying, happy to be back in familiar terrain. Then the credits again jump as we fade to black...This short is most highly recommended to any animation fan. I first saw this in a VHS collection called The International Tournee of Animation, Volume 1 when I checked it out in the Jacksonville Public Library in the late '80s in that city's downtown area.
Matt Ceccato
I remember seeing this on HBO between programs back in 1987. In that time, I experienced the general chaos that is our planet Earth. Definitely one of the most meaningful animated shorts ever made. My life really did change after watching that.
AD
