Sky-Caper

At a mere three minutes in length it is impressive that Dean and Todd (which is, as their website suggests, what they prefer as their byline) have managed to jam as many laughs as they do into this animated short.

The premise is a competition between a robot named Suds and a grunt named Ivan as to who can clean the most windows of a skyscraper. As a robot designed specifically for the task, Suds is naturally far more adept at it. Ivan makes a mess of it and is soon plummeting to his death. Can Suds save him in time?

Most of the comedy derives from the simple animation. It is unassuming and knows that it pales in comparison to what better-funded operations can offer, such as Oscar-winning French collective V5, the team behind Logorama. This limitation allows the animators room to play with their format: the mimicking of CCTV footage and the inclusion of freeze frames offers the audience moments of genuine comedy that is both cutsey and clever.

A deeper Terminator-style subtext of the replacement of humans by robots is present, but this is better left ignored as no real comment on technology’s upsurge is made. However, there is a pleasing nod to Michelangelo’s famous image when Suds reaches down to take Ivan’s hand.

There is nothing new here, but at three minutes, it is not long enough to offend and can be enjoyed as a playful one-joke distraction.

If you can't make it to Edinburgh Film Festival, where the film will screen later this month, you can watch Sky-Caper for free at Dean and Todd's Sky-Caper site.