Wings: A Heartwarming Animated Short About a Mouse and an Injured Bird

A little mouse, foraging for food, comes across and injured bird. It has been trapped by the wing and the mouse makes the decision, on the spot, to help the bird, release it and share its home with it until it is fully recovered and can fly again. That’s it – a very simple tale, but so beautifully animated and with great (wordless) character development that it’s simply (see what I did there?) a joy to watch.  This was Casey McDonald’s (aka gothfrog) final film from the School of Visual arts. She directed, background painted, animated, and did about half of the cleanup and coloring herself! The rest was handled by her team (credited at the end).

I do love an animated short that tells a very simple story – young animators often make the mistake of writing plots that are way too complex for five minutes or so, and when things get complicated, people turn off.  Yes, this is a very simple story and told in a way that very young kids can get it, but adults can appreciate it for the extended visual metaphor it really is.  Kindness is its own reward, but sometimes, something done with no obvious incentive can be the best thing you can ever do.

This is not a new animated short – but there are so many out there that I didn’t show on Kuriositas when they first came out, mostly because I didn’t spot them, that I thought I would take the opportunity to showcase some.  So, put this another way – I may be late to the party, but at least I got there in the end! At the time of writing Wings has attracted almost 12 million views on YouTube – quite a feat for a student film.  Watch it and discover why it is so well-loved.