"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.

What an incredibly cool story!! Without any words and a simple plot, the film makers were able to make an incredibly compelling and exciting animated story. The film begins like either a dream or a world where you have Flubber in your shoes. As the unseen protagonist is bouncing down the road, a car quickly approaches and he/she jumps over it! Then, throughout the film, the person jumps higher and higher and higher. Because they include lots of cute little scenes, believe it or not, this does not become repetitive! For example, if you watch closely you can see C-3PO and R2-D2 in a very brief scene, a naked lady sunbathing, a man being captured by cannibals, a war and even a quick jump down into Hell!! It's so surreal and strange but you just can't stop watching. And, to make it even better, the animation quality is very good and the film bears up to repeated viewing. A wonderful and one of a kind short film.PS--Keep watching the final credits and you'll see them jumping as well!

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.

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.