Imdbidia This is a beautiful film about the power of the written word, with no words being uttered in the film. The animation is excellent, and most of the music score is the perfect accompaniment.The central theme in the short is the magic of books. Books bring magic worlds to life. Books accompany you through life and influence your life and your writing. Books can be your best companions in life. Books cheer you up, feed your soul, and bright your life especially when everything around your world is gray.There are a few cinematic elements in the film. The main character is a mix of a young Buster Keaton and Chaplin; the end of the introductory part is definitely Dorothy being transported to the world of the Wizard of Oz; and one of the main books shows a classic character of Alice in Wonderland. Those winks are to adults, because small children will probably not get them.This is quite a long short animated film, and I thought it was unnecessarily so. The first part about the cyclone was irrelevant and didn't add much to the message or the story so, personally, I would have chopped it off and replaced it with a simpler more cohesive introduction to what follows.

gort-8 I have seen some spectacular animation over the years. I love good animation. I'm crazy about great animation. But I can safely say that The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is the only animated short that I have ever seen that made me cry. If you have lived your life with books, as I have, you will be drawn into this world. In fact if you are a book person this IS your world.The protagonist, Morris Lessmore, is heavily influenced by Buster Keaton. The scenes of the storm were a combination of the storm sequences of Steamboat Bill jr. and the 1939 Wizard of Oz and the all too real hurricane Katrina (the story opens in Louisiana and the studio that shot it, Moonbot, is located there). After the remarkable devastation Lessmore is saddened to witness the devastation around him. One of the great tragedies is that the storm swept the letters off the pages. Wandering along Lessmore spots a beautiful woman carried aloft on flying books tethered with ribbons. She casts one to Lessmore. The animated Humpty Dumpty pulls the protagonist into a world of enchanted books. Anyone who loves books can tell you there's nothing fanciful here. Of course books have wings! Of course they enable us to fly. If you don't believe me then shut off your computer now and grab a book. And when you meet Mr. Morris Lessmore give him my regards.

MartinHafer For the last several years I have gone to see the Academy Award nominated shorts--both live action and animated. This year is a first for the animated category in that as we sat watching, I overheard a lot of murmurs about how bad the nominees were. The folks watching seemed, at times, genuinely mad at the choices. Fortunately, after three very sub-par films, the final three were excellent and it seems pretty clear that the race is between "La Luna" and "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore". And, like the last couple years, following these nominees, they showed some animated shorts that were not nominees but were sort of like runners up--and the folks I talked to preferred these films to several of the nominees."The Fantastic Flying Books" is a very, very good film. Even without some poor nominees against it, it would still be a film that is Oscar-worthy. While not perfect, it is my favorite of the films. It is interesting because the film was made in Louisiana and they were sure to show scenes of New Orleans ('NOLA') when the film begins. However, a tornado comes through town and carries away a bibliophile (book lover) and his book. When they land, things are VERY different. His book now is blank--all the words were blown off by the storm! And, soon he encounters a strange woman who, along with her books, is flying by--literally! Where it all goes from there is a nice little metaphor about the love of reading but I won't say more--partly because it's hard to describe and partly because I don't want to spoil it. Suffice to say, it's a lovely story with excellent CGI and a nice gentle spirit. Sweet and enjoyable.

MissSimonetta Charming, humorous, and poignant is the best way to describe The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore, a little piece about the power of stories and how they can positively affect our lives. The art style itself is reminiscent of a book illustration with its rounded characters, soft colors, and warm lighting. The animation utilizes a variety of techniques from CG to stop motion, and, combined with the great background and character designs, makes for pure eye candy.However, the real reason to check out Morris Lessmore is for the story. It tells the story of a young man in love with books and writing who comes across a library full of living, flying books after his city is destroyed by a hurricane. The books bring liveliness and joy back into his life, and in turn, he takes care of them. More happens after that, but I won't dare spoil it for you, as you have to see it in order to really enjoy it.It's a brief piece at only fifteen minutes, but I assure you it's worth every second. The ending had me uplifted and actually shedding tears. Thus I'm baffled at the current score-- I'm not saying I was expecting a 10 or even an 8, but not even a 7 seems too low a score for one of the best animated short films of the past year.