Quest Review

Quest is a 1996 German Oscar winning animated short film that is quite flawed, but still very good and original.

A sand puppet leaves the sand in search of water and travels through various different landscapes only to find it and die while trying to take it. Yes, I really did not like that ending. It was way too defeatist, overly tragic and in the end way too pointless in its nihilist approach. I really liked the entire movie that came before the finale, but the ending itself bothered me.

The film is slow and long, but it is worth watching for the atmosphere and animation alone. Wow, does this film have an ominous atmosphere. I loved how otherworldly, alien and weird it constantly felt and that feeling was definitely palpable. The animation is terrific as well and so well executed in terms of movements and especially memorable imagery. The sound design is amazing and the sound of dripping water is particularly well conveyed.

Quest is gorgeously animated with fantastic atmosphere and absolutely amazing sound design and despite an unfortunately overly tragic ending, it ended up being a very interesting, if somewhat deliberately paced experience.