For our second day of The Rundown series, we’ll be looking at the two fiction short film categories. Live-Action and Animated Shorts.

KEY:

ANIMATED SHORT FILM

• Day & Night (O) (O) (O)
• The Gruffalo
• Let’s Pollute (New)(Ja)
• Let’s Pollute
• Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage (Madagascar, A Journey Diary)

Runners-Up

• Day & Night (New)(Ja)
• Let’s Pollute (H) (H)
• The Lost Thing (H)

Wesley Lovell: When it comes to the short film categories, it’s often anyone’s guess. I have gotten more correct predictions by picking the name of the film that sounds most interesting than I have anything else. However, in this case, I must say that the inventive originality of Day & Night is incomparable. It’s such a brilliant concept that works amazingly well. If it loses the Oscar, I will be rather dismayed. As for my runner-up pick, it’s more of a guess than anything. Science fiction in this category often has its fans, so it could take the prize.

Peter J. Patrick: The only animated short I’ve seen is Pixar’s Day & Night about the attraction of opposites. It should pull in votes from those who loved Toy Story 3, which it accompanied in theaters and on its various DVD releases.

Tripp Burton: I usually try to catch all these in the theatre before the actual awards, so this may be changing once I see them. From what I can read, though, the environmental Let’s Pollute looks funny, smart and topical, which could be the perfect match for the Oscars. However, don’t doubt the power of Pixar; even though they haven’t won here in several years, this is one of their more beloved shorts in quite a while and feels like a possible winner.

LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM

• The Confession (O) (O)
• The Crush (New)(Ja)
• God of Love (O)
• Na Wewe
• Wish 143

Runners-Up

• The Crush (H)
• God of Love (H)
• Na Wewe (New)(Ja)
• Wish 143 (H)

Wesley Lovell: Like Animated Short, this category can often be a crapshoot. Oftentimes, you just have to find the biggest name star nominated as a producer and pick that entry, thus explaining victories by Fisher Stevens, Christine Lahti and others. Of course, that’s not always the case. So, looking at what the five films are about, The Confession seems like it may touch the most hearts, which is often a good bet for the non-working voters who make it to these screenings.

Peter J. Patrick: The Confession sounds like it might me about something with a little gravity, so I pick that.

Tripp Burton: Cute kids do well in this category (see Toyland 2 years ago, although that was much more serious), so look for The Crush to touch enough hearts to take the prize. The African-themed Na Wewe could be a dark horse, though.