Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Toshi wo totta wani" or "The Old Crocodile" is an animated 13-minute short film from 2005, so this one is also already over 10 years old. The director is Koji Yamamura, but the version i watched was English with Peter Barakan doing a good job with narrating this tale. It is about a crocodile, who commits a gruesome act and has to leave his peers at the Nile. We find out what happens when he meets an octopus and, later on, a bunch of native inhabitants. I personally never had the impression this looked like a Japanese film. If that is something positive or negative, you need to decide for yourself. But I liked the animation, which looks really retro and considerably older than 2005. I also liked the story in here. It is nothing spectacular or truly memorable, but it feels realistic and authentic. Story, animation and narration all work well together in here, which is why I recommend the watch. Nice to see Yamamura get some awards recognition for his good work here. See it!

MartinHafer OLD CROCODILE is an animated short that is illustrated in black and white using rather simple animation. The story is told by a narrator with a lovely British voice that reminded me of Malcolm McDowell and he does all the voices of all the characters as well.The story is about an ageless old crocodile that is quite nasty--even for a croc! Because he's older and lazy, he mostly just sits around doing very little. He's just not energetic enough to hunt, so he just eats one of the juvenile crocodiles. Not surprisingly, the other crocs get angry at him for this and try to kill him. But, the old croc is too thick-skinned but he wanders off anyway, as he knows he's no longer wanted. So, he travels from the fresh water of the Nile to the salty Red Sea. There he meets an octopus who loves him and hunts for him. However, the croc is a jerk and over time he ends up eating his friend--piece by piece. In the end, much time has passed and old croc is tired of being alone, so he swims back to the Nile. There, the other crocs avoid him and he is miffed--having no memory or guilt about killing the other croc. Eventually, he eats a girl and all the humans think this is cool and revere him--feeding him innocent victims every day. Apparently, his skin has changed to a lovely shade of red and they thought he was a god. Meh.This is one of these films that catches you. You keep watching it--assuming there will be a wonderful payoff, such as an object lesson. However, as the film ended, I was left feeling like "is THAT all?!". I got no payoff other than, perhaps, the notion that bad creatures never get what's coming to them (which, incidentally, is often true). Interesting but unsatisfying, I assume this is based on some sort of folk lore, so I know they don't want to change the ending...but it sure left me cold.