When it comes to the Oscar nominees for Best Animated Short, you can usually divide the selections into two broad categories. There's the deep emotional tales that tell a complete story – say, 'Harvie Krumpet (2004)' and 'My Love (2006)' – and then there's the one-joke comedic shorts, which are typically enjoyable but inconsequential five-minute distractions. As such, I'm usually disappointed when the latter category earns themselves nominations, as I can't escape the feeling that there's a profound, meaningful alternative out there that I'll now never hear about. 'Maestro (2005),' directed by Géza M. Tóth, inspired this type of mild, illogical resentment; it's good, but it's nothing special, a single funny joke that takes a full five minutes to even approach its punchline. This is not necessarily to say anything negative about the short, merely that its ambitions were quaint from the very beginning. Not every animated film should say something profound about the state of human existence, and perhaps I should simply enjoy this little gag for what it is.In a dark dressing-room, as a chicken-like opera singer prepares for his next performance, a nifty mechanical device industriously grooms him for the big moment. As the machine goes about its duties – pouring a martini, applying make-up, dusting off clothing – the camera, in one clever long-take, continually carves a 360-degree path around the Maestro, shifting in one-second increments like the second hand of a ticking clock. The computer animation is smooth and crisp, doing a fine job of readjusting to the rapidly-changing lighting conditions as the camera consistently circles. The suspense of the big moment is prolonged, to such an extent that the five minutes preceding the all-important punchline seem stagnant and expendable once we know what is about to happen. I don't think that this short will hold up on repeat viewings, and, indeed, I don't feel any inclination to watch it again (which is where it differs even from Pixar shorts like 'Geri's Game (1997),' which I could watch all day). 'Maestro' is worth a look, but it's not one for posterity.

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.

We first witness a robot, in the form of a expanding metal arm, mixing a drink for the "maestro" who is sitting in front of a mirror in his dressing room apparently preparing to perform somewhere.The expanding arm also reaches into a top drawer and brings out selected items for the man. It's his makeup, which the mechanical arm puts on him, along with other chores such as dusting his top hat so he is totally ready for his performance. Meanwhile, the man gets his voice ready with some notes, so our guess is that he's an opera singer.Two things stood out for me in this animated short: the direction and the ending. The "camera" roams 360 degrees around the little room so we see what's going on from all angles. The ending I can't give away but it was a stunner and made me smile with appreciation for the cleverness. Rarely have I seen an ending so good.

I attended a screening of the Oscar-nominated shorts yesterday and if I had a vote in the Academy it would go to "Maestro". At the beginning I wasn't quite sure of what kind of world it took place in. On the surface it looked like a backstage peek at an impennate opera singer preparing for a show. But why was a mechanical arm doing all of the grooming, drink mixing, and other tasks? The interesting thing I noticed about "Maestro" was that as the camera circled around, the perspective changed at one second intervals. This technique recalls the motion of a second hand and hints strongly at the film's wonderful punch line.