Destino (2003)

There is something charmingly surreal about this hybrid of animation styles inspired by the strikingly different but undoubtedly complementary styles of artwork from Walt Disney and Salvador Dali. The theme seems to suggest a relationship between a beautiful human being and an equally handsome discobulus-like figure as a manifestation of time. One one level this is a more human-centred experience, albeit peppered with imagery that you can readily imagine coming from Dali's own multi-dimensional imagination, merged with something akin to the more traditional which, when accompanied by a sort of "Sleeping Beauty" score is more reminiscent of Disney in his early pomp. In parallel, there is a more philosophical story that seems to want to remind us that nothing is fixed, especially time itself, and that our relationship with our surroundings and even ourselves is fluidly defined and ever changing. That symbolism isn't always the easiest to read as turtles develop faces on their shells that prove instrumental in our dancer appearing, or curiously one-eyeballed critters emerge to look like they are straight from "Little Shop of Horrors". Trying to make sense of this probably isn't a great use of our time, but sitting back and considering how this might have looked if it were to have been hand-drawn by both of it's creators eighty-odd years ago makes it worth five minutes just on that score alone.