User reviews

The story of "Flatworld" is a funny and entertaining one, a bit slow at times; nevertheless what this film is worth being watched for is the reality it develops. Let's explain it.

Greaves' second animated short after his 1991 Oscar winning debut displays loads of imagination by means of a three-dimensional environment in which all objects and subjects are actually two-dimensional and made out of stationery. The world resulting is a "Flatworld", coherent and consistent, where people can slip through crannies, one can get rid of an angry dog by just crumpling it, beard is not shaven but erased, police officers shoot no bullets but staples instead and if you get injured, just wrapping some tape around the wound will do.

In another turn of the screw, Greaves allows his flat world to encounter the standard two-dimensional cartoon world, thus enhancing the differences between them two.

Flatworld is mind blowing, imaginative, animation short. The whole trick to the movie is the animation is flat three dimensional. Everything up until he zaps himself into the television alternate world is three dimensional. There is no dialogue which is also great because anyone in the world can watch it and understand it. It is unlikely you'll be able to rent this video but if you ever see it on tv, watch it! You will love it! Great film, great effects, great music.

This film is a remarkable animation achievement, and, as far as I know, the only one ever done with this particular technique of animation.

The sets are three dimensional, built entirely of paper and cardboard, and the characters are drawn onto little card stock cutouts, one cutout per frame. So they take a shot, replace it with another cutout, take another shot (actually it was two shots per placement iirc).

The effect is amazing. The story takes place in a world made of paper, and artfully explores the implications of that. The VHS version I have has a "making of" at the end of it that will have you watching it again just to catch some of the extra details they tell you about.

This film was truly a labor of love and every frame shows it. If you are into animation, it's worth buying just to see it once. Also a lot of fun for the kids, very imagination-bending.

This short film is one of the finest pieces of animation I've seen in a long time. I stumbled upon it one afternoon and I fell in love. The combination of 3D and 2D animation, 2D characters in a 3D cardboard background and traditional cel animation, is incredibly well recieved. The entire sequence of the battle between the hero, Matt Phlatt, his cat Jeff, and the Burglar, attempting to retrieve the stolen money through the water conduit is incredible. There may be no dialogue, but it's not needed. It's by far one of the best animated films that the BBC has produced in a long time.

I would like to get a copy of 'Flat World'. Is it available to buy and where can I get it?

I saw it on TV a few years ago but no one else seemed to have seen it and I found it very funny.

I thought there was a connection with Nick Parkes but there doesn't seem to be any mention of that in any details I have found.

I loved the idea of a stapler mending the roads and the right angle views of traffic, which became a line. There were probably lots more visual jokes which I missed, so I would like to have it to watch again.

An original and witty animation.

I really love this short film, its so clever! Saw it a few years back in the BBC Christmas series of animations (when i was living in England) and taped it at the time but i lost the tape and have been searching for a copy of it ever since! (its very hard to find - and this is the first time my google search has brought up anything half decent about the film!) I've tried unsuccessfully to explain the cunning use of paper both as the medium of animation and the material the world is made of in the story. My favourite character has to be the fish - he has such an attitude problem towards the cat! I will have to do a bit more searching and see if i can find it on DVD.

I liked this movie, it was very entertaining and the ideas were great and constantly kept the movie going with fresh scenes that intrigued you after each one. Although the storyline was great and the idea itself was a great thought the idea of stop motion for me wasn't amazing. I personally don't like stop motion and i would much prefer a traditional animation of actual people in the shots. The ending was very good and the story was good its just the stop motion and some unrealistic aspects (such as being able to slip through the door cracks) kind of ruined it for me.

Overall it was a good movie

This film is lighthearted, fun, and enjoyable for anyone who watches. It involves 2 different types of animation which provides an intriguing aspect for those who love the technical side, and a very cool effect for everyone. I loved the switching between 2D and 3D and the playing with different dimensions. There was nothing bad about this short; an absolute pleasure to watch.

Flatworld is one of the best stop motion/animated films that I have ever seen. I love the concept of the world and it's characters. The story is also brilliant imaginative, and it has you wondering what happens next every minute. The 2d/3d mixture adds a great effect to the film. The other great thing about this film is that it has no dialogue so anyone around the world can enjoy it.

I honestly loved the movie Flatworld. It's very imaginative and innovative, considering that it was produced in 1997, without many of the technologies which are now available to us. The soundtrack is amazing: how many films are able to express theirselves in such a brilliant way without using a single world? I feel like it was because of the music choice, which I personally found very suitable in every scene. Let's not forget the main characteristic of this movie: it was all made with paper, using the stop motion technique. Pretty amazing work. The story was brilliant in its semplicity; it shows you a world where there's no three-dimensionality, but a "reversible world" underneath, which would be pretty cool if it actually existed in real life. I enjoyed how the animals were "humanized": both the fish and the cat got human's traits, and this made them even more appreciable, in my opinion. Last thing, I really appreciated when, at the end of the end credits, the version I saw proposed a short documentary on how this movie was made. Discovering the writer's and the film-makers' ideas was very interesting, so, if you haven't seen it yet, I suggest you do that!

The story of flat world is truly a creative and unique idea, and the animation style really helps in painting the picture. The mixture of stop motion and animation is used very well, and the way that the world is shaped around people being two dimensional makes for an entertaining film. The story itself is very fun to watch, and the fact that the creators managed to tell it without using any dialogue was very powerful. I enjoyed the colour contrast and the over-the-top use of cartoon physics, it made for a great film to watch!

Flatworld in my opinion is absolutely ingenious stop motion short film. The way in which the movie switches in and out of stop motion 2D and 3D animation is so unique and extremely entertaining to watch. Another reason I enjoy the movie is that you don't need to know a certain language to understand the film. With many of the ways they use paper to slip through doors or get crumpled up showed different possibilities in a world made of paper.

I really enjoyed this film! The merging of stop motion and cell animation provided an interesting contrast between the two "worlds", and the concept of developing a stop motion world based on the mechanics of the materials it's made out of is something that not that many films explore, but which was done really well here. I also felt that the length of the film suited the style and story really well- as much as I enjoyed this, it might have dragged on if it had been too long. All in all, the style and concept were really enjoyable, and I would happily watch it again

Just saw that Flat World is on Youtube in all it's crazy entirety. Very funny short movie. So if anybody wants to see it then they can watch it there. Punny enough to tickle my funny bone. Love being able to see it again. One of the best short movies I saw on ShortsHD. I'd recommend that everybody go look it up and watch it.

With a length of about 30 minutes "Flatworld" is in my opinion a good stop motion film. It is partly animated and partly made with cardboards.

The city in that it takes place is represented in greyish colours to show the audience how miserable it is there. The "TV-World" is represented colourful, showing that it is a happier place. The director (Daniel Greaves) has no problem giving the audience this feeling. I love how he plays around with the 2D perspectives. For example, you can at one point see a car from the side, but as the camera turns you can see the car from behind (but the car is still a flat cardboard) and the protagonist (Matt Phlatt) can go through a locked door because he is flat. I also like how he shows that it's all in a "cardboard world" (protagonists shaves with an eraser, guns are staplers etc.). The only thing that I don't like about the film is that it gets a little too "random" for me.

Nevertheless, I can recommend it to every age group.

Flatworld is a film that catches my attention, it's admirable watch stop motion animation because it's a hard working job and creative. Some people say that stop motion is something of the past but the producers made it in the present/future situations, and it was great. The fact of everything be made of paper and no dialogues and funny make the film unique and authentic, the sound effects are also a positive point. A film with no dialogue is interesting because everybody in the world can watch. The 2 dimension worlds connected by the tv, for me, was the most amazing part of the whole movie.

Flatworld is a short film by Daniel Greaves released in 1997.

The world in which the story is set is entirely made of paper and cardboard, so all characters and objects (like cars) are in 2D, while the world is in 3D. This is probably the first feature we notice, feature that makes Flatworld so different from other short films. The plot is focused on the life of Matt and his two animals, a cat and a fish. Because of an accident caused by Matt while working, the character of a tv show arrives in Flatworld causing various problems.

But is not just the plot that makes this short film so special. Flatworld is realized perfectly combining two different filming techniques: stop-motion and animation. Sound effects are extremely good as they greatly highlight both funny and serious moments. There are no dialogues, so anyone could watch it and understand everything.

I really appreciated Flatworld, I think that, even after 20 years, it still is a really enjoyable short film. It's funny and easy to understand (perfect for kids), but it's also a technical masterpiece.

We watched that movie in class and the teacher told us to create a review...

I really liked the film, because it is impressive, what the creator had to do, to film this short movie! For me, it is the first step into the modern animation. it is actually 2D animation, but it looks like 3D, because of the cleverness of the film team.

But sometimes you can see the 2D. For example: There was one scene, where a dog hit his head into the paddle. There you could see the 2D animation for a short time...

But that is the only reason, why I gave it just 8 of 10.

I love it, that the movie was without talking anything. It is so simple, but I think it fits to the movie! It is also really good, that everybody all around the world could watch the movie.

All in all I think that "Flatworld" is a masterpiece of a movie! And I think, if I will get the chance to watch it again, I definite watch it again!





Sorry for some mistakes, but my English isn't that good!