MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI

(2016) This Oscar-nominated stop-action animation film opens with a young French boy nicknamed Courgette (French for 'zucchini') flying a kite he has named after his long-gone father, as downstairs his mother sits in front of the TV, drinking and watching soap operas. A horrible accident leaves Zucchini an orphan, and a kind police officer who knows his story befriends the nine-year-old, taking him to a foster home where Zucchini - quiet, scared, and riddled with guilt - only slowly learns to live, laugh, trust, maybe even love again, with the help of the other orphaned children who live there. The look of Zucchini is very stylized yet simple, sets and props minimal and boxy and making the vivid colors, bulging eyes and marionette look of the characters stand out even more. It's also really sweet to see how, while Disney/Pixar, Dreamworks, and other computer animation giants abound in this industry, stop-motion animation is still not only a thing ... it's an Oscar-nominated thing (Zucchini was nominated last year for the Best Animated Film Oscar alongside its fellow stop-motion animation nominee Kubo and the Two Strings, which should have easily won the statue). At just 70 minutes in length, My Life as a Zucchini is short, sweet, and quite charming; a brief look into grief healed by love, trust earned with compassion, and one little boy's learning to let go of the past so that he may embrace his future. (rated PG-13)  8/10 stars