After seeing THE CATHEDRAL (KATEDRA), I looked on IMDb for reviews of this Oscar-nominated short and the first one dramatically proclaimed it was "robbed at the Oscars"--implying the winner should not have won. So, that encouraged me to see out the winner (with the bizarre and less than exciting title "THE CHUBBCHUBBS") and I'm convinced that the AMPAS people (the organization giving out the Oscars) did NOT screw up by not giving the award to THE CATHEDRAL. While THE CATHEDRAL was amazing to watch from a visual perspective, it really looked much more like a cut scene from a video game than an actual short film. Whereas the CHUBBCHUBBS was very funny and a complete narrative--with excellent animation, writing, voice acting, etc. Plus, when I dug further, I watched ALL the nominees and found that DAS RAD (another nominee that failed to win) was also much better than THE CATHEDRAL. In fact, for originality, DAS RAD definitely was supreme in this category.Still, my advice is see them all--and perhaps the other Oscar nominees from the 2003 Oscars. They're lovely little short films--though ATAMA-YAMA might make your brain hurt since it's so very weird.

This is a mysterious, Gothic, fantasy vision crafted from the story by Polish sci-fi author Jacek Dukaj. There is no dialogue in the piece, only a haunting soundtrack that complements the expertly rendered CGI. And what great animation this is: a sense of gentle foreboding permeates every part of the beautiful and grandly scaled cinematography that is reminiscent of H.R. Giger with a dark palette in twilight shades and the surreal organic feel to the 'architecture'. The story starts with a young man leaning on his staff, taking in the huge vista of a sun setting behind a redly lava-rous world that takes up half the sky. As the line of night races past him we take in the scale of what can be seen to be a cathedral, behind him. He appears to sigh inwardly and turns to walk into the huge 'building'... You will probably watch this short over and over again back to back, as I did and, apparently, as did the jury of Siggraph 2002 that awarded this piece their prestigious "Best Animated Short" by unanimous vote. Since this is Tomek Baginski's first major release, I will look out for his subsequent work: to set such a high standard from the start could indicate a rare and special talent.

I agree with all the previous comments - excellent animation etc...-a masterpiece indeed. However I find the plot of the movie at least as fascinating as the visualization. It's about the power of existence and coming to an end - beautiful, magnificent, unavoidable and horrifying, about sacrifices that allow us to last. ....and thousand other interpretations. You may not agree with mine but what can be said without any doubts is that the plot IS NOT LIGHT!

This animated film from Poland features some truly outstanding animation. The character animation and the scenery shots in this sci fi tale are brilliant. The story itself is somewhat hard to follow, but as a spectacle of animation it is a terrific film. GRADE: A