2026 Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts

Life with a near-two-year-old is rewarding and challenging. One challenge was that I had to forgo my usual theater screening of the animated short nominees. This was a serious bummer, because it's a tradition I hold dear, but scheduling just didn't work out.

As a silver lining, 4 of the 5 shorts are available to watch on YouTube, and, since they're all under 20 minutes, they are easy to access. Here, then, are the four I was able to watch:

Forevergreen

Blehhhhhh. Like The Giving Tree, but somehow even worse? A bear is raised by a tree, and then there's some really heavy-handed Christian symbolism, which, just to hit you over the head, they make even more explicit by quoting the Gospel at the end of the short. Not bad animation, but a hackneyed plot, and a trite tale. I really hope this doesn't win.

Retirement Plan

This seems to be the one the money's on to win, and I can see why: it's legitimately funny, and just poignant enough without straying into cloying. The animation style is nice, too, if not overwhelmingly interesting or anything. Wouldn't mind at all if it won. 

Papillon

A visually impressive undertaking, this tells the real story of a Jewish Middle Eastern man who represented France in swimming in the years leading up to WWII. A sort of Jesse Owens figure, I appreciated the pastels and almost Gaugin-like style, especially when focused on his family and tropics. Would not mind at all if this won.

The Girl Who Cried Pearls

This is a beautiful piece of animation - and visually more captivating than the rest, with a stop-motion marionette style. The story-telling is also possibly the best of the set - although this was an admittedly strong year for three of the four. Slightly rooting for this one, but only a hair more than Retirement Plan and Papillon.

And that's it. If The Three Sisters ends up winning... Well, I guess I'll have to hope they put it online.