"Flux" is a 7.5-minute animated short film from 2002, so it is soon going to be 15 years old. Chris Hinton made this one between his 2 Academy Award nominations and even if "Flux" did not get in at the Oscars, it still received a fair share of accolades from awards bodies all over the world. I wonder why. I must say it was a really strange film and the animation was so awkward that it was almost impossible to see what was going on actually. I got somewhat used to it the longer the film went, but I never got to like it. I guess in this film's particular case the IMDb rating is more accurate than the number of awards the film won. It is not a complete disaster by any means, but I never found it a satisfying watch and every bit of emotion (there is a love story right) was deleted right away by the style of this movie. I give it a thumbs-down.

One review for this film said that it sneaks up on you. Well, I waited and watched and nothing in particular sneaked up on me. I really wanted to have the film ultimately turn out to me more interesting but it never really did.The animated film FLUX is about the life cycle from one generation to the next and it's told with only gibberish words--no other dialog. The problem for me, though, is although its art style is unique, this was NOT a good thing. The overall look was like a cartoon created by a 4 year-old--complete with very, very sloppy kid-like drawings. About the only interesting aspect of all this was that occasionally something goofy happened in the film--such as someone screaming or a baby popping out, but that was about all.Overall, I'd rate the animation a 1 or 2 and the story about a 4. Splitting the difference, somewhat, I arrive at an overall score of 3. I'm sorry, but I just didn't get it.

The animation in this fast-paced short is deceptively sparse, which is not to say that it is simple or uninvolved. It's just that Chris Hinton only puts the key information up on the screen and plays fast (very fast) and loose with the normal placement and size conventions. This, paradoxically, actually brings another layer of involvement to the viewer. It also makes the characters' emotions come across clearer and easier.There are many amazing things about this film which tells the tale of one generation passing into the next. To begin with, it had been many years since he had last created a film (8 years since the distribution of his last one). Then, to keep it as fresh as possible for himself, he did not storyboard (!) but instead just created a list of events from which to work off. He also eschewed working with a computer on this piece and instead did each frame himself, by hand, sometimes actually painting the ink with his finger.I highly recommend catching this kinetic, enjoyable, family film. It's available over at www.Filmporium.com for five dollars together with the moving animated documentary "Ryan" and the farcical "Eat" by Bill Plympton.