"Maestro" is an animated short film from 10 years ago. It's actually a Hungarian production by writer and director Géza M. Tóth. But don't worry, there is no spoken language in here, so you don't need to be able to understand Hungarian. Anyway, it's pretty short, roughly 4.5 minutes and shows us how a bird, apparently an opera singer, prepares for his great moment on stage. All in all, I was not too impressed by this film here, with the exception of two moments. The first would be when his voice slowly transforms from tough to listen to into wonderful to listen to. The second is the ending. I won't go anymore into detail here, but I have to say it caught me completely by surprise and made me laugh. All in all, I guess I agree with the Oscar nomination because the animation here is fine as well. I even would have preferred it was the winner over the Danish entry. It's also better than the "Ice Age" short film and maybe only slightly inferior to the Pixar entry that year. Still, easily my number one choice is "The Little Match Girl", which was such a wonderful experience and, almost 10 years later, still makes me sad that it did not win. Back to "Maestro", I recommend it and I hope we get a full feature movie from the director at some point, if he manages to make it work. I am not entirely sure if he has it inside him looking at how short this one here is and how strongly it relies on the final twist, but why not give it a go, Mr. Tóth?

This short film is about the minutes that an opera singer preparing for a performance."Maestro" is funny and entertaining. It features a cute chicken like opera singer, preparing for a performance with the help of an automated arm device. The angle is constantly shifting, so it gives the viewers different perspective every second. The music is nice, the opera singing is convincing. The end twist is unexpected and funny, and it certainly made me laugh. However, as a stand alone animation, I think it is a rather forgettable effort. It gives a laugh, and nothing else. I can't say it is particularly artistic or groundbreaking.

This is one of the short films nominated in 2006 for an Academy Award, it is part of a collection on DVD. It is done is modern computerized animation and is very well made. Watch it if you ever have the chance.The tile of the DVD is "A Collection of 2006 Academy Award Nominated Short Films."SPOILERS - DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM SHORT YET.We see what appears to be a bird who is an opera singer, he is in his dressing room, warming up his vocal cords, while his robotic assistant helps dress him, tend to his makeup, and prepare him for the upcoming performance. It has all the trappings of a real opera singer getting ready. Only at the end do we realize that he is actually inside a clock, and the performance is the hourly chime "coo-coo" in the clock.

This is funny, well-crafted, computer-animated short film that'll give you a good laugh if you watch it. You can find it for free online (and legally) by searching for it at the "Portable Film Festival".The fact I'm giving the film a 6 does not at all mean that I disliked it - as another user said, the film moves in a very deliberate way to a funny conclusion that you the viewer will probably not expect. It's definitely worth a look.The thing is, that's all there is to it. The film sets its target low and does a great job of achieving it, but it's still a low target. I'm not sure that it has enough in it to deserve an Oscar nomination (especially when exemplary artistic masterpieces such as Aleksandr Petrov's "My Love" were left out of the list). It's a fine film that's worth watching, but it's still only based around a rather short, simple joke and doesn't aim for anything higher.