Absolutely Stunning - "Us Again" Short Film Review - T.E.C.

Us Again is a Walt Disney Animation short film released on March 5th, 2021. It is directed by Zach Parrish, and was sent to Disney+ among many other short films of the sort. In a nutshell, Us Again follows an unnamed couple who have grown old together. Among the busy, bright, and bustling world around him, and despite his wife’s best efforts, the old husband has fallen into sadness and boredom. However, one night, magical rain pours, and the couple is turned back to their younger, brighter selves. Eventually, the old man realizes that without the rain, he is turned old once more. After running under the rain, he realizes that his old self is good enough, as long as he is with his wife.

Let me begin by mentioning, the animation in this short film is absolutely stunning. (Roll credits). The water, the environment, and especially the abundance of “RTX” and neon lights all throughout the short, make for a beautiful work of art that without the story, is a borderline masterpiece on its own. (From an animation standpoint, of course.) This will probably not be the last time I will mention the beautiful animation, so get used to it. With that out of the way, let’s get into it.

I would like to mention that first of all, though the animation is beautiful, I wasn’t the biggest fan of how they made the human characters. I think they are alright, but I don’t like how rubbery their skin looks, and how plain their faces are. I think they chose to animate them that way because it was a stylistic choice, but I’m not the biggest fan. I also think the neon lights were a tiny bit overused, since every shot of the couple dancing around the city was basked in purple or rainbow lights, but the animation makes that up just fine. I seriously cannot get over how good everything looks! But yeah, I would have really enjoyed more shots of the couple dancing around in natural light, not just neon on neon. Disney, we get it, you’re better than everyone with animation, but could you like, not please? For five seconds? (._.’). I would have liked some shots of them, for example, dancing in a park with their reflections in a pond or something, I don’t know. I also think the music, while good, was a tad bit repetitive, but that’s just nitpicking. But yeah, that’s basically everything that could have used a bit more work.

Hot dang, was this short film eye candy. The colors popped in basically every shot, especially the end. The bright, rainbow ferris wheel contrasting the dark, dull clouds in the distance was breath-takingly well done. I was going to save this for later, but that ending shot with the storm cloud silently growing further and further away from the pier, the quiet joy and sorrow of the contrasting feelings and moods casted by the colors, just everything about it is wonderful. But yeah, I enjoyed the shots of the couple dancing through the city, and the bright outside world of motion. I additionally think that the dull colors of the couple’s apartment really showed how sad the husband has become, and gives a fantastic contrast to the rest of the short film, showing bright lights in almost every shot. The colors and neon aspects are so well animated, utilized, and manipulated with the world shown with dance.

Speaking of dance, the theme playing in the background of this short is pretty upbeat and fitting. It is not my absolute favorite, and could have used more work, or even a different piece chosen entirely, but it works fine. I’m not an expert at dance or decoding the meaning of movement, but I really enjoyed the fun, alternative, upbeat dancing throughout the short film. I think it is super neat to have a world where dancing is just a normal..thing. While a bit silly in retrospect, the animators did a very good job fitting the dance to the short, even making it the main focus entirely. I loved the smooth movement and fluent representation of day-to-day life, and the animation, again, was amazing!

In conclusion, I would probably recommend this short to anyone reading this, because I would love for you to experience the borderline masterpiece that is this beautiful short film. (I am not calling this a masterpiece because I want to save that ‘honor’ for a work of media truly deserving of it, and I don’t want to just hand that title out. Don’t get me wrong, I love Us Again, but I don’t want to call it a masterpiece please don’t be mad hehe. And yes, I know this review was short, but I am working on another project taking up most of my time right now, and I wanted to at least put out something! I am really sorry things are taking so long, but I am getting the hang of things right now and hope to be constantly releasing my review sometime soon. Again, sorry!) But yeah, I really, really enjoyed this work of art, and if you haven’t watched it, please do so, and if you have watched it, watch it again! I really hoped you enjoyed this review of the stunning eye candy that is Us Again. Good night, Tri-State Area.

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