Educational Media Reviews Online

This irresistible animated short film has been making waves in animation festivals all over Europe and North America. It's about the anxiety of having a baby. Although it's a tad sinister it's also funny and definitely on the lighter side of films like Eraserhead.

Roger and Doris are a happy but baby-obsessed couple. Roger hangs out by the window peeping at the neighbors' babies through a telescope while Doris knits baby booties for the dog. After an amorous episode (which appears on-screen-- it's not graphic but some parents might not find it suitable for children), a baby appears. He's a weird little space alien with spiky hair, black lips, and too many teeth who crashes through the roof and lands head-first with his feet still aflame. Roger and Doris are delighted. They name the baby Peanut and toss him in the air like a balloon. Their poor dog is lonely and forgotten.

Peanut, however, is a baby from hell. He emits strange loud noises and never smiles. He refuses his food and eats the dinnerware and live goldfish instead. He bathes by spinning round and round in the toilet (while Roger and Doris are trying to make out in the bathtub). Doris can't take it any more and she drives off with the dog. Peanut uses Roger's telescope and a mad-scientist contraption built out of toys and cookware to contact his home planet. He summons more Peanuts to Earth and Roger finds himself staring up into a gang of evil little alien faces. You fear that it's all going to turn out very badly until he wakes up from his dream and he's still in bed with Doris. Suddenly the light dawns and in a voice of amazement Roger tells Doris "You're not fat. You're pregnant!" They dance around the room together in blissful joy.

The film comes packaged with discussion questions for use after screening the film. One suggestion is to use it as a springboard for personal discussions about new babies. The Peanut baby in the film is such a comic exaggeration that it could help make new parents feel less shy about acknowledging their own hopes and fears regarding the baby. It might also be a good tool to help older children talk about a new baby brother or sister for parents who don't object to the subtle sex scenes.

Another educational use of the film could be in film studies or animation classes. This is an example of excellent animated storytelling. Baker takes advantage of the medium to show angles and points of view that would only be possible in animation. The design of the drawings creates a true sense of a separate world. Even with the short running time, each character develops a distinct and surprisingly complex personality. Details and sub-plots have been meticulously storyboarded so that the film is worth watching repeatedly. For example, one of the suggested discussion questions is to follow the action of the dog as a foil to the main action.

Aside from the educational possibilities, the film simply has great entertainment value. Cordell Baker won numerous awards for his previous film The Cat Came Back and he has done it again.