Delightful fantasy piece. Make of the fable what you will, but the balloon certainly brings a sense of camaraderie to the child - protection from bullies both young and old. And its brightness contrasts with the drabness of his home and neighbourhood. And where are his parents? Wonderful street scenes of the Paris of 1956.

This is an almost 60-year-old live action short film which runs for 35 minutes and won a Screenplay Academy Award, actually the only short film that managed this achievement. It's written and directed by Albert Lamorisse and features two of his kids including his son as the human lead character. The real star of the film is the balloon though. The most memorable thing about this slightly more than half an hour was the contrast between gray Paris and the bright red balloon. Still, I have to say I didn't really see anything unique or particularly memorable in here and I am a bit surprised that this short is so well-received till this day. Basically all we see is a little boy who goes through town with his balloon, occasionally loses it, but gets it back, while a couple other kids and adults try to grab the balloon as well. Maybe he is synonymous with some kind of hope and the metaphor for bringing more brightness into their lives. The ending was pretty spectacular, but in terms of the story I have to say it did not win me over either. The scene I liked the most was probably when the girl with her blue balloon meets the protagonist. This would have made a nice ending too, maybe watching the two leave together with their balloons before the closing credits roll in. Anyway, I was very much underwhelmed by this short movie. Not recommended.

Some people found it creepy because of a balloon following a kid around on its own; while other people found it very charming. No matter what people think of the film, the Red Balloon was indeed beautiful to watch due to its visual effects and amazing cinematography. It also indeed had a great music score. The Red Balloon is a thirty four minute French short film directed by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse. The film is about the adventures of a young boy (Pascal Lamorisse) who one day finds a red balloon who has a mind of its own. At first, it might seem like a normal regular balloon, but the days that followed, the red balloon begin to catch the attention of not only the boy's parents, teacher, and classmates, but the whole Ménilmontant neighborhood of Paris. The film catch the attention of a number of critics, and won numerous awards including an Oscar for Lamorisse for writing the best original screenplay in 1956. In my opinion, I wouldn't have gave them best original screenplay, because there were way better written screenplays in 1956 than this. Plus, the film has a little dialogue, so most of the screenplay was just describing how things should be shots. Not enough to be worthy best screenplay. Director Lamorisse used his children as actors in the film. His son, Pascal Lamorisse, was the boy and his daughter Sabine portrays a little girl with the blue balloon. I love the inquisitive looks from adults and children. It was the best thing in the film. I laugh my butt off, when somebody sees the red balloon following a kid around and he gives off the 'huh' look. I like how in the beginning, the red balloon almost hit some old lady in the face. The ending was a bit odd, and disturbing. Did the kid went to balloon heaven or something? Some critics see a Christ like metaphor ending to this film. The streets represent the post- World War 2 attitude of everybody. Everything is grey and dirty. Everybody is cruel and hateful. The balloon represent 'the spirit'. When the red balloon dies and its "spirit" is reborn in thousands of other balloons, there to rescue the boy and preserve his innocence. In my opinion, I really was hoping to see all the balloons take their revenge on the bullies, but it doesn't happen. Sadly, they just carry the boy away into the sky like he was dead. I think people are looking too much into the film. I didn't find any message of anti-war or pro-religion in this. The only thing I notice about the film is the Cinéma Pur (French for Pure Cinema). It was a great example of the avant-garde film movement which features films with vision and movement rather than dialogue full films. The film has great shots, but it clearly shown that they use multiples balloons for each shot. The size of the balloon, and length of the string different and changes throughout the film that it get annoying. The goal of the avant-garde movement was to create a cinema that focused on the pure elements of film like motion, visual composition, and rhythm. The film only success somewhat of its goal. By minimizing story and plot, focusing instead on visual concerns by using close-ups, dolly shots, montage, lens distortions, and other cinematic techniques, Red Balloon was just one simple movie that a lot of people can relate to. The film is fairy harmless. The film fails in some things. First off, the boy never go into a character arch. With the little dialogue he spoke, it sounds like the boy was very controlling of the balloon to the point, the red balloon felt very submissive. He was a bit cruel, and selfish to the balloon. Unwilling to share it with the other children, no wonder why he had bullies. He was even unwilling to allow the balloon to hang out with the blue balloon, if he meets the girl. He quickly pull the red balloon away from the blue balloon. It would had been a better film, if the red balloon and blue balloon ran away with each other, rather than the boy keeping it all for himself as if an abuse submissive slave. If only if he was willing to share the balloon, maybe the balloon wouldn't had commit suicide like it did. Clearly, I felt that the red balloon was very unhappy of its self by the end of the film. The movie was depressing and dull. He seems to get over the red balloon being gone way too quick in my opinion. Like he really didn't care. Talk about being gone, the whole neighborhood of Menilmontant is nearly no more, as poverty took its toll on the area. By the 1960s, the area was so bad, the Parisian government demolish the area as a slum-clearance effort. So this is one of the few movies left that show the pre 1960's Paris. The movie was really popular that it spawn sequels and remakes like 2007's Flight of the Red Balloon and 2010 and 2013's horror film, Red Balloon. The movie became so popular, that elementary schools around the world became to show it at schools, so a lot of school children watch this over the years. With each new generation, a group of new audience are able to watch this film, and view their opinion. My opinion states that, the red balloon was a pretty OK film, just wish it had more depth.

I know a lot of people loved this movie but as a kid I didn't. It seemed boring and dreary. The lack of dialog and the spare gray streets made the movie seems desolate. The balloon looked weird not like any balloon I knew as a kid. The bullying seemed cruel and unmotivated. A balloon seemed like a pathetic friend that was neither very fun. The death of the red balloon was genuinely sad. The supposed liberating resolution did not make up for it. In fact it was scary and left me wondering if the boy fell to his death, was suspended in the sky forever or was taken some place far away with no way to take care of himself. I also felt sad for all the kids that were deprived of their balloons when they all flew to the boy. It seemed unfair.