"The Present" is a 4-minute animated short film and the second work written and directed by German Jacob Frey, who worked on several other projects before and afterward as an animator, for example the Oscar-nominated "Room on the Broom" or "Zootopia". The story in this one here is about a boy who loves playing video games and is not too impressed when his mother gives him a puppy as a present. At least not initially. But cuteness prevails and we find out something about the boy as well that makes us like him a lot more than we do when we see his negative reactions towards the dog at first. Nice animation, cute story here. Nothing too outstanding, but certainly worth a watch for under five minutes. I recommend "The Present".
7 Reviews
A Story of Hope
Hitchcoc4 May 2019
A boy wiles away his time engaged in video games. He is serious and unfriendly. Then his mother brings him a present. It's hard to figure out why he is so angry and resentful. The present is a puppy who is missing a foot. What transpires will bring tears to your eyes. I guarantee it.
The Present melodramatically conveys inspiration through three adorable paws.
TheMovieDiorama6 November 2018
It's another case of youths today being portrayed as video gamers who just want to play 'Call of Duty'. Y'know, the whole "Guys, add my Gamertag so we can play online! Boom headshot! 360 no scope, quick scope. Omg what a n00b!". So in this lovingly crafted animation, the mother purchases him a dog as a present. But here's the catch, it is disabled and only has three legs. Cue melodrama and sympathy. Yes, the mischievous puppy is adorable. Yes, the canine makes you "awww". And yes, I want one. Right now! However, the son dismisses the dog because of its disability and instead of kindly going outside to play with it, he kicks the poor thing and chooses to continue shooting Nazi zombies. Immediately making him ridiculously unlikeable. It soon transpires that the son has his own disability and seemingly becomes infected by the dog's own optimistic perspective on life. The problem is that the kid is already unlikeable. You don't sympathise with him due to the way he treated the dog, which metaphorically relates to how other individuals treat him. Therefore I would've expected him to warm to the dog instantly, as they both have relatable qualities. It's too busy focusing on the "stop playing games and go outside" moral as opposed to what is directly in front of him. Good intentions, beautiful animation and decent morals are detracted by a character who is forcibly unlikeable for the sake of it.
This one got me
injury-6544725 May 2020
Treat yourself
richard-178711 July 2017
This is a wonderful movie that becomes deeply touching for reasons I can't explain without giving away the ending. If you get a chance to see it, treat yourself. You'll be happy that you did.
This is just filler to get to five lines. Once upon a midnight dreary, While I wondered weak and weary Over a many quaint and curious Volume of forgotten lore.
This is just filler to get to five lines. Once upon a midnight dreary, While I wondered weak and weary Over a many quaint and curious Volume of forgotten lore.
about friendship
Kirpianuscus13 March 2018
A boy. and the gift of his mother. a refuge. and the seeds of the friendship. result - a moving animation. impressive for good animation and for simple story. and for the nice manner to give force, using few inspired details, to a story about a special form of change
A beautiful short film
ayushparasar4 October 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I had once heard a similar story from my teacher in a lecture on Sympathy v Empathy.
Sympathy is an ability to feel others' pain and sorrow but not completely understand what exactly the person is feeling mainly because of a lack of similar experience on our part. There's a gap between us and them.
On the other hand, empathy starts where otherness ends. We completely understand what the other person's mental state is because we have been through similar situations ourselves.
The story I was taught in the lesson had the boy go and buy the crippled dog himself because he empathized with it. He knew the feeling of alienation and loneliness.
This is a slight modification to the original story to incorporate disability in teenagers and how it leads them to live in isolation and in darkness, especially in modern times when we are continuously bombarded with flawless and perfect lives of people on social media. How it can lead to unhealthy habits and frustration because of that.
Sympathy is an ability to feel others' pain and sorrow but not completely understand what exactly the person is feeling mainly because of a lack of similar experience on our part. There's a gap between us and them.
On the other hand, empathy starts where otherness ends. We completely understand what the other person's mental state is because we have been through similar situations ourselves.
The story I was taught in the lesson had the boy go and buy the crippled dog himself because he empathized with it. He knew the feeling of alienation and loneliness.
This is a slight modification to the original story to incorporate disability in teenagers and how it leads them to live in isolation and in darkness, especially in modern times when we are continuously bombarded with flawless and perfect lives of people on social media. How it can lead to unhealthy habits and frustration because of that.
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