A.N. I stumbled upon some Web-hype of this short film, easily found it online, and wondered how it ever achieved much status. It comes off as a work of minimal effort that became a curiosity because it was different. But different doesn't mean good, per se. The "jokes" are mainly of two types:1) Discontinuity, with people saying things that don't make sense. No particular skill is needed for those bits. Here's my effort: "It's raining outside!" "My turtle just ate my fish!"2) Huge amounts of blood coming out of various wounds, spontaneously or through violent acts. The animator comes off as simply twisted, not a twisted genius. Gags are predictable; you know an innocent scene will turn bloody "just because." Is gratuitous gore funny?I guess people who like sick, vapid stuff like "South Park" might find "Rejected" appealing, but for me it's just...rejected. I rated it a "3" because it's at least somewhat original in its crassness.

hippofairy i loved this short from the first time i saw it in the theater back home in Hawaii. they were showing it before some Australian flick at the Hawaii International Film Festival. I went to see it with my boyfriend at the time, and we seemed to be 2 of the 3 people laughing in the theater. i was laughing so hard i almost fell off my seat, but controlled myself enough to stay upright and watch the whole thing. i'm not quite sure what was wrong with the rest of the crowd (i guess they wanted to see the Aussie movie). and maybe the humor is just a little too "different" for them. but, i'm glad the rest of the world appreciates REJECTED as much as i do. i watch the DVD at home and laugh out loud every time.

Robert Reynolds Rejected is a short composed of short bits that are basically animated "blackout" gags that sometimes leave you rolling on the floor and occasionally will have you blinking and scratching your head. The ending plays with the concept that an animated film is only as stable as its animator's mind and is probably the best section of the short. Inexplicably, the Cartoon Network contracted for the US broadcast rights, sat on it for roughly a year before putting it on their schedule and then yanked it shortly before the scheduled airing with no real explanation. I wonder if anyone at Cartoon Network even saw the short before they bought the broadcast rights.I saw the short as part of The Animation Show and also got the DVD release that Bitter Films put together. There's supposed to be another DVD release later this year containing all of Hertzfeldt's shorts, including Rejected. The short is most definitely worth seeing, though it is most definitely for adults more than children. Recommended.

tedg Deserved revenge in the film business must come rarely. I don't for a minute believe that Hertzfeldt is blameless in how he dealt with "the suits," but I've had enough dealings with them to serve them any insult possible.I first encountered Hertzfeldt's work in "A L'amour" done before this. It has him approaching different women and saying innocuous things "Betty, those are nice shoes" and having her chainsaw out his heart and eat it.This stuff is along the same lines, a little less powerful and more uneven. But what makes this something you'll remember for a long time is the stuff done after the initial rejected bits and the faux ads. Its the stuff where the cartoon itself begins to disintegrate.It is a literal example of self-referential folding: the paper crinkles and destroys the world.This is probably the second best of his stuff. See "Genre" if you can.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.