I have four of the five Oscar nominated animated shorts right here, they are all silent - i.e, without any dialogue - and quite funny. Of the four, I see the Russian “Lavatory - Lovestory” as a potential winner. It has a heart.

Oktapodi
Directors: Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
Actually, I think it’s a squid. This swift comic adventure - produced in France but located on a Greek island - should be expanded into a feature film.


(via Slashfilm)

Lavatory - Lovestory
Director: Konstantin Bronzit
As opposed to the other shorts here, all done in 3D animation, this is animation at its simplest - few squiggly lines and a story that’s utterly Chaplinesque.

This Way Up
Directors: Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes
It’s “Zig Zag Story” meets “Six Feet Under” meets Polanski’s thesis short “Two Men and a Wardrobe” (turned into “Two Men and a Coffin” here). This British short has a great first five minutes, but the last three minutes turn in into a Tom Burton/Henry Selick wannabe.

Presto
Director: Doug Sweetland
The Pixar short that played in front of “Wall-E” in theaters. It’s a hilarious Warner-Brothers-style cartoon that boasts the best animation and a lightening quick pace for comedy. The academy - whose members snubbed “Wall-E” for “Slumdog” will do the same here: I predict the hand-drawn Russian toilet woman will beat the high-tech Disney wizardry.

Absent is the Japanese/French “La Maison en Petits Cubes” directed by Kunio Kato.