The Chubbchubbs! is a fantastic computer animated short, with all the whit and humor you find in great crossover animation (something that plays both to kids and adults). The animation is so clean and well done with real depth to each shot. Director Eric Armstrong packs a ton into this little film, with a large number of site gags and 'in' jokes that it takes a couple of viewings to get them all.

The Chubbchubbs! won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Animated Short film and I think deservedly so. It's the kind of short film that can launch a career. I hope this production team connects with a feature length animated project, because I think it would be quite a feature!

The Picture - Presented in 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, The Chubbchubbs looks absolutely fantastic. Obviously a bit budget wasn't a real issue for the DVD so I'd imagine they used very little compression. The animation is clean and clear.

The Sound - The Chubbchubbs is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 audio and it sounds fantastic. The audio is clear and separation between music, dialog and effects is fantastic. Excellent use of surrounds.

Extras - It's quite a shock to me that Columbia Tri-Star would release The Chubbchubbs without any related special features. I'd imagine it wouldn't take all that much to get a quick audio commentary by the director, show storyboards, or even show the oscar acceptance speech. But aside from a few theatrical trailers (including Anger Management, Daddy Daycare, and Charlie Angels 2), this DVD has no extras.

Final Thoughts - There's no getting around the fact that The Chubbchubbs! DVD is only 5 1/2 minutes of content and with a selling price of $9.95 you're paying quite a bit for not a lot of DVD (for that money you could buy an older feature film from a major studio). What makes this DVD all the more perplexing is the fact that The Chubbchubbs was previous released as a part of the Men in Black II: Special Edition DVD so if you're really interested in seeing it I'd recommend renting Men in Black:II and then you'll at least get your rental worth. Columbia Tri-Star has a real missed opportunity with the Chubbchubbs, had they included some extras or even packaged it with some other short animated films it could have really been a DVD to buy, but as it stands it's almost impossible to recommend.