Jumping (1984) User Reviews

Very Interesting Perspective Film

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 23 April 2019]

What appears to be a child begins to jump. As he/she jumps, the jumps get higher and higher. until the character is hundreds of feet in the air, bouncing over battleships and buildings and running into birds. We also get a look at some of the events going on in our world, war as well as peace. Good, creative effort.

Life Changing

[mattc-6 · 10/10 · 20 September 2002]

I remember seeing this on HBO between programs back in 1987. In that time, I experienced the general chaos that is our planet Earth. Definitely one of the most meaningful animated shorts ever made. My life really did change after watching that.

Jumping, jumping

[Rectangular_businessman · 9/10 · 31 May 2012]

A funny and original gag-short directed by the Astroboy creator Osamu Tezuka in the eighties, being one of his most creative experimental animations.

Even when the premise seems like something far too simple, it is how it is presented what this short work so well: "Jumping" takes a first person perspective in order to show what the main character of the short (A kid, apparently) finds as he starts to make higher and higher jumps, going to several different places, always with funny and surprising results.

The animation of this short is pretty well done, having a unique and atypical visual style which is completely different to any other Japanese animation that I've seen before; having a completely different aesthetic of what is commonly associated with anime. There sceneries are particularly well done, having some of them details that could be appreciated after several viewings.

This is a great example of experimental animation from the world, being highly imaginative, unpredictable and entertaining.

Jumping is one of the great animated shorts from Osamu Tezuka

[tavm · 10/10 · 15 March 2007]

Directed by Osama Tezuka, Jumping is one of the best entirely hand drawn animated shorts from the late '80s. After the title sequence with the credits quickly going up and down, we see point-of-view jumping shots going from the suburban neighborhood to some forests to some seascapes to over some tall city buildings to many war-torn areas to a giant mushroom cloud to hell twice with both times the devils trying to get you with their pitchfork to finally back to the beginning neighborhood where we hear a little child joyously crying, happy to be back in familiar terrain. Then the credits again jump as we fade to black...This short is most highly recommended to any animation fan. I first saw this in a VHS collection called The International Tournee of Animation, Volume 1 when I checked it out in the Jacksonville Public Library in the late '80s in that city's downtown area.

Like a child's dream come to life...

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 1 November 2008]

What an incredibly cool story!! Without any words and a simple plot, the film makers were able to make an incredibly compelling and exciting animated story. The film begins like either a dream or a world where you have Flubber in your shoes. As the unseen protagonist is bouncing down the road, a car quickly approaches and he/she jumps over it! Then, throughout the film, the person jumps higher and higher and higher. Because they include lots of cute little scenes, believe it or not, this does not become repetitive! For example, if you watch closely you can see C-3PO and R2-D2 in a very brief scene, a naked lady sunbathing, a man being captured by cannibals, a war and even a quick jump down into Hell!! It's so surreal and strange but you just can't stop watching. And, to make it even better, the animation quality is very good and the film bears up to repeated viewing. A wonderful and one of a kind short film.

PS--Keep watching the final credits and you'll see them jumping as well!

Mind-blowing stuff.

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 9/10 · 22 April 2024]

I think this might be one of the coolest pieces of animation I've ever seen. It's called Jumping and it's about jumping, with a first-person perspective and a main character whose jumps continually get bigger and bigger. He starts out hopping over cars, and then by the end, he's jumping between continents. My one complaint might be that he didn't jump into space, which felt like a missed opportunity. Maybe if there's a Jumping 2?

In all seriousness though, I think this was amazing for what it accomplished in just over five minutes. It's so surreal, and it builds so effectively from one second to the next, and I loved the art style and just how immersive the short as a whole felt. Anyone with 6-ish minutes to spare has to watch this (even if it takes almost as long to review as it does to watch!).

Jumping right into mediocrity

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 24 July 2016]

"Jumping" is a 6.5-minute animated short film by the late Japanese writer and director Osamu Tezuka. He made it in 1984, five years prior to his death, so this one is already over 30 years old. It is basically about a child jumping, but the action turns quickly away what happens in the street where the child lives. Instead, it takes audiences to a journey across the entire globe. I must say this does not make any sense really as the child has never seen these places and it cannot jump as high as it does in this film. My only explanation is that Tezuka wanted to show us that there are no boundaries to the creativity of a child's mind, but even with that approach I cannot say it worked well and comes off as slightly pretentious. The animation is decent for 1980s, nothing too great or bad. But the story in here is really just a collection of mostly forgettable impressions that don't make any sense really in the whole context. I do not recommend the watch.