Big Red

Directed by James Pyle

2025

Midlands writer-director-actor-animator James Pyle ends the year with Big Red, a new 8-minute short film that explores the fun relationship between man and beast.

Here, the beast in question is a suspected squirrel and the short opens with a news anchor called Marty sharing a story about the possibility of humans communicating with animals.

Out in the field is the news channel’s Jimmy Benson, a roving Ron Burgundy-style reporter broadcasting from the woods. And he's leading the investigation into the potential of interspecies relations. No, not that.

As the anchor cuts to “Sports” we return to Jimmy off-screen who begins to hear a cacophony of voices - are these real, or is his earpiece playing up or is it something else altogether? Whatever it is, it throws him into a wild trance before he realises the film crew have left him stranded in the forest.

The short’s animation is basic but effective - getting across the characters, their personalities and the locations well. Better still is the voice-work from Pyle himself. He does a more than convincing job with an American accent. The news presenters are suitably hokey and deliver their transatlantic “media speak” with clear diction and a surprising amount of snark.

But now alone in the woods, Jimmy starts to go a little “nuts” and his paranoia mixes with an 80s-style music montage as Jimmy searches for the mysterious “Big Red” - a name he hears amongst the whispering voices of the outdoors.

A red squirrel’s tail is all we see of this mysterious creature, and Jimmy struggles with his search as he rummages amongst the nooks and branches of trees to find the elusive critter.

Jimmy makes a valiant effort to capture the animal. But this soon becomes a life affirming fight for his destiny. And it all ends with a rather dark turn which sees him fulfilling his apparent purpose - someone alert PETA!

Yet amongst all this, there’s a final twist in the “tail” where something much stranger is revealed. There’s definitely an influence from Studio Ghibli’s Totoro and his tree here - both in terms of the visuals and a thematic parallel of sorts. But to be fair that’s no bad influence at all.

Big Red is a fun little animated short and it’s refreshing to see the filmmaker literally extend his range with a longer film. The increased length allows more time for creativity and develop an expressive narrative - signifcantly improving upon the slightly slim content of Pyle’s previous micro-shorts.

And the filmmaker's love for weird stories once again comes across very well - and rather than “Do-little”, the filmmaker has “done-lots” to create an American squirrel saga that’s entertaining and suitably bizarre. 

★★★★

4 / 5

Michael Sales

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