《盛宴》：奧斯卡最佳動畫短片？！

It’s hard to believe, but sometimes things don’t go Disney’s way. Take last year, when Luxembourg and France’s upstart Mr. Hublot took the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film, over Disney’s miraculous Mickey Mouse comeback cartoon Get a Horse!, one of the most dazzling examples of 3D showmanship in memory.
人們很難相信，迪士尼有時候也會有失算的時候。比如去年，盧森堡與法國兩國共同創造的暴發戶哈布洛先生（《哈布洛先生》）摘得了奧斯卡最佳動畫短片的桂冠，擊敗了迪士尼出品的米老鼠復出之作《馬兒快跑》，儘管這部作品精彩絕倫，堪稱3D動畫技術史上最令人嘖嘖稱讚的典範之一。

This year, it will be another injustice if Disney’s Feast (paired on movie screens last fall with Big Hero 6) doesn’t win the Oscar. It’s the clear standout in a field that includes other shorts of merit, but nothing as delightful and crowd-pleasing. Conceptually, it’s just about perfect: the story of a stray dog, the bachelor who adopts him, and the man’s rocky romance, all told from the point of view of that irresistible canine and focused nearly exclusively on the food said canine eagerly devours.
今年， 如果迪士尼的《盛宴》（和《超能陸戰隊》一樣是在去年秋天上映）不能贏得奧斯卡獎，那將是第二次對迪士尼的不公。它在同類的動畫短片中脫穎而出，雖然其他的動畫短片也很精彩，卻不及它這樣令人歡欣，受觀衆青睞。從概念上說，它可說近乎完美：這個故事是關於一隻流浪狗、一位收養了它的屠夫，以及屠夫一波三折的愛情故事，故事是從那隻惹人憐愛的小狗的角度來講述的，幾乎完全集中在小狗饕餮美餐的鏡頭上。

In a brisk six minutes, Feast tells a funny and relatable story with masterful economy, and all within the restrictions noted above. Debuting director Patrick Osborne, who was head of animation on Disney’s Oscar-winning (and equally romantic) Paperman, captures the behavior and movements of a dog with an observant deftness that will charm any canine lover, with just a soupçon of anthropomorphism. This instant classic is yet another sign that Disney Animation under John Lasseter’s leadership has reached the same level of excellence as the fabled Pixar.
在這段節奏緊湊的六分鐘視頻裏，《盛宴》用大師級的剪裁技巧講述了一個風趣幽默又與每個人息息相關的故事，而且篇幅嚴格限制在上述的時間限制之內。該片的導演、新銳導演帕特里克·奧斯本是迪士尼出品的奧斯卡獲獎動畫片《紙人》製作團隊中的主要角色，他細緻而熟練的捕捉了小狗行爲動作的嬌憨之態，讓所有愛犬人士爲之傾倒，甚至傳達出幾分自然萬物同形同性的味道。這部已然躋身經典的作品再次證明了，在約翰·雷斯特的領導下，迪士尼的動畫團隊的傑出程度已然可以媲美著名的皮克斯動畫公司。

Feast’s closest competition in the Oscar race is the very inventive The Bigger Picture from Britain. Director Daisy Jacobs mixes media and techniques in a way I haven’t seen before, with two-dimensional characters painted onto flat surfaces interacting with real miniature sets and props. The story itself centers on a very adult dilemma, as two brothers bicker over the care of their elderly, dying mother. The decision to have the faces and torsos of the siblings immobilized on various walls was perhaps intended to underline how wearying such situations can be on a family. Surreal touches like a vacuum cleaner sucking up all the people and objects in a room help enliven this morose but creatively intriguing short.
在這次奧斯卡獎的角逐中，《盛宴》最強的競爭對手是英國出品的別出心裁之作《更大的圖片》。該片導演黛西·雅各布斯在影片中把平面上的二維人物形象與寫實的迷你佈景和道具相互關聯，這種將不同媒介雜糅，將不同的動畫技法並用的創作手法我從未見過。故事本身是圍繞着一個頗爲成人化的悖謬主題展開的，兩個兄弟爲了誰應該去照顧他們年邁瀕死的母親而爭執不休。導演決意讓兩兄弟的面部和四肢都固定在若干個平面上，這也許是爲了突出這種家庭境況會讓家庭成員如何倦怠不堪。超現實的氛圍像吸塵器一樣攫取了影片中所有的人和事物，讓這部格調陰鬱卻獨出機杼，引人入勝的作品更加富有靈氣。

Other competitors are as followed:
其他的競爭對手爲如下幾個：

“A Single Life” (Netherlands, 2 min., directed by Marieke Blaauw, Joris Oprins and Job Roggeveen): Upon discovering a mysterious old 45 rpm single record, Pia plays it and finds herself able to travel back and forth through her life, depending on where she drops the needle. This hilariously black comedy says it all — in two minutes!
《獨身生活》（製片國家/地區: 尼德蘭；時長：2分鐘；導演：Marieke Blaauw, Joris Oprins , Job Roggeveen)皮婭發現了一卷神祕的老式唱片，單面、每分鐘轉數45轉，皮婭播放了這張唱片，發現她把唱針擺放在什麼地方，就會穿越到某個時間段，由此可以在她的過去和未來之間不停穿梭。這個搞笑的黑色幽默故事將所有劇情張力囊括其中——時長僅爲兩分鐘時間！

“The Dam Keeper” (USA, 18 min., Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi): Pity the poor piggy — charged with keeping up the old windmill that keeps up the old dam that protects the old town from disaster. And enduring the scorn and torment of his fellow animals at school, until a foxy new classmate shows up.
《守壩員》（製片國家/地區: 美國；時長：18分鐘；導演：Robert Kondo，Dice Tsutsumi)可憐的小豬Pity擔負着保護古老風車的責任，這部風車支持着古老的水壩，而正是這座水壩讓這個古老的小鎮免受自然災害。在學校裏，小豬受到其他小動物同學的嘲諷和虐待，直到一個新同學、一隻小狐狸出現了。

“Me and My Moulton” (Canada, 14 min., Torill Kove): A Scandinavian girl asks her parents if she and her sisters can have a bicycle while struggling with the fact that they are embarrassingly out of sync with “Norway normal.”
《我和我的莫頓自行車》（製片國家/地區: 加拿大；時長：14分鐘；導演：Torill Kove)：一個斯堪的納維亞血統的小女孩問她的父母，她和姐姐們能不能有一輛自行車。一家人爲此爲難，因爲這與“挪威的習俗”非常不符。

In all, not a vintage year for the Academy’s chosen animated shorts; we’ll be surprised if Feast doesn’t swallow the competition.
總體來說，從奧斯卡提名的這些動畫作品來看，今年不算是一個豐收之年；如果《盛宴》不能摘得桂冠，我們一定會不勝驚愕。