I love the animation style and moody yet cool feel of Kid's Story. All of the human body movements look so beautifully realistic. Almost rotoscoped at times. It may be a tiny not relevant to the tiny plot thing, but a little detail that I really loved is the few seconds where the kid is eating his toast! It's such a charmingly ordinary mannerism in a situation which is far from that. There's not a whole lot to this short but it does add a touch of depth to the wide-eyed puppydog from the sequels, of which I much prefer to the arsy first one. I don't know if any Kid depthness was wanted, but it's still very interesting and one of the best Animatricees. I never found the character annoying, just weird. Unlike a few others, or so it would seem, I didn't find the leap of faith at the end to be grim. It was quite uplifting, to me. He's simultaneously ascending as he's descending. There's a quaint little paradox there. I thought it was a really powerful and well done concept. It brings to my mind the dream where you're falling and you wake up just as you land in your body. I don't get how the Kid could have left a body behind to be buried. Shouldn't he have just disappeared when he, "died?" And it contradicts the rule that says if you die in the Matrix it's for real. Of course, he may have been so focused on his belief that he was somehow able to transcend all that. It makes you wonder if anyone who commits suicide in the Matrix wakes up in the real world. Hmm...how terribly enthralling.

There's not much plot to this Animatrix short, but the movies overcompensated for that so it's good to have a Matrix story sold on imagery and feeling.Remember the overeager kid from The Matrix Revolutions? This is the story of how he freed himself from un-real world and woke up. He feels alone and alienated, wondering why his dreams feel more real than his waking world.Cowboy Beebop director Shinichirô Watanabe uses abstract, experimental animation deliver the story. It's rough and features many pencil strokes, but it's good. Not the best Animatrix short, but worth watching.

The fourth of the Animatrix shorts, this is one of those of them that ties closely into the trilogy, specifically, the sequels. This provides the background for The Kid, seen in the second two movies, and he's genuinely not irritating in this(no, seriously). The concept is highly interesting, although, for obvious reasons, this should not be seen by anyone too likely to imitate it, anyone whose behavior is that easily influenced. The animation is well-done and quite interesting, with a style of limited motion in the drawings, and the camera being responsible for a lot of the movement, in a way that feels reminiscent of regular, live-action films. The atmosphere is impeccable, and the pace is spot-on throughout. The voice acting is great, Watson does well with what few lines he has, as do Anne-Moss and Reeves. The idea and execution of this are excellent, and this is a remarkable addition to the overall universe. This has a making of, shared with Detective Story, which is well-done and informative. It's 9 and a half minutes, same as the short itself. This has one disturbing aspect, nothing objectionable beyond that. I recommend this to any fan of The Matrix franchise and/or science fiction in general. 7/10

one of two of the nine Animatrix shorts connected directly to the first movie sequel Reloaded, this explains what the kid pestering Neo in Zion was on about. It reveals his escape from the matrix, which involves him asking questions on his computer and getting a cryptic reply, black screen, green typing, like Neo's white rabbit chat in the Matrix. at school, his phone rings, and his teacher confronts him when he is told off but it rings a second time and he answers.he is warned to escape, which he does, with some interesting slippery animation depicting him skateboarding through his school, chased by his teacher and a whole bunch of agents. he is cornered and climbs out of a window to the roof. the short began with the kid dreaming of a suicidal jump from a rooftop, which the kid performs after asserting his belief in Neo.his funeral is attended by his teacher who talks of delusions and of the real world being a scary place to the kid. then the kid wakes in the real world as Neo and Trinity discuss his self substantiation and Neo tells the kid he saved himself when the kid tells Neo he saved him, something annoyingly repeated in Reloaded and Revolutions.Keanu and Carrie voicing their characters add a welcome authenticity to the short, and the animation by Studio 4°C combines rubbery pencils and colours with seemingly real world, photo-realistic backgrounds, a dualistic reference to the distinction between the real world and the matrix, surely a consciously chosen style of animation for that purpose, if not then an interesting coincidence. Shinichiro Watanabe of cowboy bebop fame directs this worthy effort and matrix enthusiasts should enjoy the escapist fiction and revel in the truth of the kid's story.