Child's Play

When a child plays his imagination can go in to overdrive.  So is the case here in this marvellous animated short by Pete Duffield.  The boy we find playing here doesn't really care if he mixes and matches characters from various films in to one extended together.  It's almost like a fan boy's dream dome true: Star Wars meets Indiana Jones meets Robocop meets Back to the Future.  All the action takes place in the kitchen - well at least that is the real world location.  In the boy's mind it could be anywhere from Tattoine to Hill Valley via an an isolated island in the Aegean Sea - or even a mix thereof.

As such, those of you of a certain age can sit back and let the nostalgia wash over you - it may even remind you of your own childhood - it is certainly an evocative piece.  See if you agree, but we think the funniest part of the whole thing is when Indiana Jones and a (rather flummoxed) Luke Skywalker meet up.  The result is much as you might expect (or even hope!). Indie never did have much patience...

This is Pete Duffield's longest and most ambitious animation project to date and it took him six weeks (working completely solo) to complete. The voice of the boy is provided by Ryan Duffield, who sounds as if he didn't need too much encouragement to take on the role!  Considering the identical last name of animator and voice artist, we are assuming that the youngster is a younger relative of Mr Duffield.  Altogether this is a charming piece of work - and one which produced huge smiles and laughter all round here at the Old Kuriositas Shop!