Pandora: A weird little trip into old animation

Is this actually worth your time?

Honestly, only if you’re a total nerd for animation history. If you’re looking for a bedtime story or a coherent plot, you’re gonna be bored out of your mind. It’s basically just a witch being creepy and some kids being kids. It feels a bit like something you’d find playing on a loop in a haunted house at a county fair.

The whole thing is built around this witch and her little box of horrors. She tries to tempt these kids, and it’s all very simple. It reminds me a bit of the frantic, slightly nonsensical energy you see in Aladdin's Lamp. Just weird stuff happening because, well, why not?

Notes from the couch

The animation is jerky. Like, really jerky. Sometimes the characters seem to teleport rather than walk. It’s charming in a 'they were figuring this out as they went' kind of way, but don’t expect smooth movement.

There is this one shot where the box opens and all these little shadows just pop out. It made me laugh because it looks like a glitch in a modern video game. You can tell they were trying to do something spooky, but it mostly just feels silly. 👻

• The witch’s nose is impressively long.
• The kids look like they’ve seen a ghost before the ghost even appears.
• The pacing is just... fast. Too fast.

I found myself wondering if this was meant to be scary or funny. Probably a bit of both? It doesn’t hold a candle to something like Die Fledermaus in terms of production, but it has that weird, grainy texture that I kind of dig.

It’s short. Thank goodness. It doesn't overstay its welcome. You get the joke, you see the ghosts, and then it just ends. No long-winded explanation. No moral of the story. Just weird shapes on a screen.

If you like watching old, dusty films, go for it. Otherwise, maybe just watch a cat video. It’s about the same level of intellectual stimulation anyway. 🤷‍♂️