New York International Children’s Film Festival

NYICFF Kid Flicks One — 3 1/2 stars
Recommended ages: 3-7. Program run time: 56 min.

“Preschool Poets: Poem About All Different Things” (2 min.) 1 star
I didn’t like this one at all. I didn’t really understand it. It was so weird.

“Brooklyn Breeze” (4 min.) 4 1/2 stars
I loved this one. It is a catchy music video, set in Brooklyn, that has dancing structures like water tanks and cranes. This short is fun to watch for people of any age.

“KUAP” (8 min.) 4 1/2 stars
This is the humorous story of a tadpole who struggles to become a frog. He becomes a very large tadpole whose legs will not sprout. He almost loses hope before the happy ending.

“Slurp” (4 min.) 3 1/2 stars
This is a live-action short about a boy who wants to help his grandma. She annoys the whole family when she eats soup because she slurps. He finds a solution, but I wondered, “Why don’t they just stop giving her soup???”

“Mi Abuelita” (2 min.) 2 1/2 stars
This is a story about a grandmother and granddaughter making food. This one was OK, but it just didn’t interest me.

“The Pig on the Hill” (6 min.) 3 stars
The pig lives in a house on top of a steep hill. A duck builds a house on another hill, and he throws a party. The pig is invited but chooses not to go. Then the loud noise of the party won’t let him sleep. The animation was great. The story was OK.

“Small Spark” (4 min.) 3 1/2 stars
This short was funny because it has a silly ending. The story follows a rat that sneaks into a cat’s house and steals some matches.

“Flipped” (5 min.) 2 1/2 stars
“Flipped” is crazy. It is about kids acting like grown-ups and grown-ups acting like kids. The grown-ups basically act like toddlers and have to be taken care of.

“6:1” (3 min.) 5 stars
This funny short was my favorite of this collection! A cat and a girl are playing checkers against one another on a train. The girl keeps jumping the cat’s checkers. At one point, he only has one checker left, and he has to find a way to win.

“The Pen Licence” (9 min.) 2 1/2 stars
I wonder in which grade kids would get a pen license. The license shows that you have good penmanship. All of these kids were nervous about whether they would pass a test to get it. It must be something schools do in Australia.

“Raccoon and the Light” (4 min.) 4 1/2 stars
This short is about a raccoon with a flashlight. At the end, it gets a little sad, though. I liked the way this short was drawn.

“Belly Flop” (5 min.) 3 1/2 stars
“Belly Flop” is about a girl who goes to a pool. She sees an excellent diver no one could beat. The little girl can only do a belly flop, which ends up being really important at the end of the short. It was a great story about the importance of doing what you can.

NYICFF Kid Flicks Two — 4 stars
Recommended ages: 8+; Program run time: 72 min. 

“Mogu & Perol” (9 min.) 3 stars
Mogu loves to cook, and Perol wants to eat. Perol’s eyes turn solid white when he is hungry, which makes this short a little creepy.

“Hors Piste” (6 min.) 5 stars
This hilarious film is about two guys trying to rescue a skier on top of a mountain. In the first few seconds, they knock their helicopter off the mountain, and it explodes. The poor skier wishes these two never “rescued” him by the end.

“Jesszilla” (7 min.) 4 stars
Jesszella is a documentary about a 10-year-old girl who is a boxer. She is really good and made me want to get my own boxing gloves.

“Catmos” (5 min.) 4 1/2 stars
“Catmos” is an interesting black-and-white cartoon about a black-and-white cat. The way the drawings shifted into one another was really cool to watch.

“Saturday’s Apartment” (7 min.) 4 stars
This interesting short features several animals that live in a high-rise apartment. They bother one another by making a ton of noise from things like hanging pictures, bouncing on a trampoline, knocking canes on the ceiling and more.

“Slow Dance” (6 min.) 3 stars
A boy is nervous about asking someone to dance. This one seems like it is for middle schoolers.

“Running Lights” (11 min.) 2 1/2 stars
This movie is one of the strangest in this collection. A fallen-out tooth turns neon and grows legs, and there is a creature that looks like a bunny and hops like a frog.

“A Field Guide to Being a 12-Year-Old Girl” (20 min.) 4 stars
This was a really funny one to watch. I enjoyed it, even though it was longer than the other shorts, because the girls had such interesting and humorous things to say.

Available to rent through May 14 via grailmoviehouse.com