Alike (2015)

Save for a grassy knoll with a brightly coloured tree and a violinist, the life of the father and child here could hardly be more mundane. One goes to work, the other to school and neither see the slightest variation from one day to the next. Gradually, the quite enthusiastic and cheery youngster becomes a little depressed that however it tries to vary it's life, all that ever receives is rejection or even worse, indifference. Perhaps father will spot this and change things? It's actually quite a potent indictment on the routine in which so many of us live our lives and at just how readily any semblance of innovation or enthusiasm can be drummed out of us. It's fairly standard clay animation but I did like the use of colour on the dad to reflect his mood changes, and it's clear all along that he loves the kid very much indeed - a feel good factor that's uplifting when it's reciprocated by a life-affirming great big grin!