646f9e108c A seemingly innocent tea party is transformed into mega technological mayhem when two imperious aristocrats compete for the affections of a lady.
In a lovely garden on a peaceful afternoon, two frogs vie for same butterfly, a harbinger of what's to come. At a grand manor, a woman in elegant dress with ample décolletage is courted by a two gentlemen, the Marquis de Malstrumpet and Sir Dingleberry. They spar verbally, argue over the food and drink, knock her about without noticing, and then escalate to a full-fledged dual between two gigantic robots that each pilots from inside the helmet. Destruction reigns supreme across manor and garden. Will there be a last man standing? And what about the lady?
I don't normally care for the computer-generated animation style that's used here-like at all, but this was just so utterly charming and funny, and the action in it so frenetic and madcap yet so fun and well done that I couldn't help but soon love the whole thing. I've seen a few comedy-toned computer animated shorts like this, a lot of them fairly good, but this was one of the very best examples I've seen yet. I like the humorous irony of the title. There sure wasn't a thing gentlemanly or honourable about this duel-and these were no gentlemen! Over the course of the short the two walking caricatures manage to inadvertently sock the very lady they are both wooing several times in the face, destroy much of her estate and part of her mansion. The snooty voices and hilarious banter of the two suitors is one of the best things about this show. I loved listening to such ridiculous one-liners and insults that are let fly, such as: "knicker nibbler!", "poodle fiddler!", "Monkey spanker!", and "Cheese pirate!" Now that was a good one! I liked the running gag of the impossibly low neckline of the lady's dress and ample busom! Something else that I found pretty funny was the "Wild Wild West" approach to the technology-like you know how in the crappy Will Smith movie there's a giant mechanical spider and everything? Well it's just like that, all technological conventions of the time are completely thrown out the window! But who cares when it's so much fun! I thought the battle between the humongous steam-powered robots was epic and wickedly awesome!!! I noticed how the French man's robot looked like a frog! I thought the battle was really well done and didn't drag on or come at you way too fast at all, but rather had a good pace that entertained and amused from start to finish. It's so weird when they both stop for a spot of tea right in the middle! Pretty damn fantastic animation in certain scenes. I especially like the setting sun in the background as the match begins. And I loved the cool classic distant reaction shot that happens when the two bots slam into each other and explode as the battle reaches its climax. After their gigantic robotic suits blow, both exhausted men crawl towards each other to fight to the death-until they realise that they may have just killed the very woman they were fighting over and at which point they both show their true character by promptly finding the strength to run off! I kinda wished the 'lady' had been squashed, rather than what you do see has become of her. Ooh la-la! Subtlelty is definitely not this animations strongest point. I loved it. It was thrilling, they managed to keep up the spectacle of it without things lagging whatsoever, and it was funny at the same time, and I just think they did a great job of pulling that off. Jolly good show!
"A Gentlemen's Duel" is an 8-minute animated short film from 10 years ago written and directed by Sean McNally and Francisco Ruiz-Velasco. The title already tells us that it is a British guy and a French guy fighting in this little film for a woman's affection. However, their battle is nothing gentleman-like, so I guess this description really only applies to tea time and courting the woman in here. The animation is fine, but the story really loses its appeal pretty quickly and the ending is also somewhat expected in terms of who gets the girl finally. So yeah, I cannot agree with the awards bodies that honored this short film as I did not find it a memorable watch at all. And I generally love animation, which makes it even more disappointing. Not recommended.
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