World of Tomorrow Episode Two: The Burden of Other People's Thoughts (2017) User Reviews

That is a glimmer of hope. Put it back.

[linkogecko · 9/10 · 9 January 2018]

"World of Tomorrow" not only was an emotional bag of bricks that caught even die-hard Don Hertzfeldt fans unaware, it was also another proof of his brilliant and successful penchant for playing with form. "Rejected" and "It's Such a Beautiful Day" both deconstruct and homage the handcrafted nature of pencil-and-paper animation, but with a new all-digitally animated project, the trick was to deconstruct something else: narrative and screenwriting. The core of "WoT" is his then-4-year-old niece's unscripted ramblings, challengingly turned into a spanning, coherent and devastating 20-minute narrative. For the sequel, Hertzfeldt decided to repeat the behind-the-scenes formula and continue the narrative from the original... now based on the ramblings of a 5-year-old.

While I still prefer the original short's more ample and undefined musings on people's relation with technology and the endless possibilites of the future of this relation, glimpsed through Hertzfeldt's usual manic-depression-tinted lens, "Episode Two"'s decision to focus on a clearer theme (the relation of people with their memories and "living in the past") and a more emotional line are still undeniably fruitful in creating a masterpiece and a worthy, yet different enough sequel. Both parts share the most important characteristic of being at once cerebral and filled with powerful emotional uppers and downers that alternate in the blink of an eye.

While Hertzfeldt's niece Winona Mae is the sonic heart of the shorts, the incredible talent of Julia Pott as the brain cannot be understated. Her ability to infuse the mostly monotonous voice performance with all manner of tiny nuances to show the heartbreakingly limited emotional capacity of protagonist Emily's clones, as well as her excellent comedic timing (along with Winona's childish charm and random wit) keep the films light, fun and extremely re-watchable. Hertzfeldt's animation is brilliant as usual, with a gifted ear for rousing classical music, gorgeously trippy visuals and simply hilarious gestures on his characters' faces standing out.

A worthy follow up to the original

[briancham1994 · 8/10 · 31 May 2020]

Emily is back! And her clones! This time we travel into their minds instead of into the future. This short film is filled with many wondrous and poignant moments that show that Emily's clones have more heart than we once thought.

The one where stuff gets real

[doomedmac · 9/10 · 26 June 2021]

Darkness and death and humor collide in this one. The ideas are fascinating and the execution is nearly flawless.

Remarkable

[DrPhibes1964 · 10/10 · 24 November 2020]

The theatre where I worked screened Oscar nominated shorts -- live action, documentary, and animated. I tried to catch the animated shorts every year. I was astounded by World of Tomorrow. Granted the animation is stylised and deceptively childish, especially the character designs. But I loved them and saw them as real as any live action characters. But it is not about the animation but the ideas that are contained within the film, as well as the emotions. Three times I was reduced to tears. I have seen this film over a half dozen times and those scenes never failed to evoke those emotions, whether it was the boy born without a brain and kept on exhibition, the strange creature whom Emily Prime abandons on the planet, or when Emily 6 recalls a moment with her mother enjoying a walk together. This being the reason why Emily Prime returns at this time and retrieves this memory while it is still fresh and vivid. P

I wouldn't over analyse the film because it will rob others of their own interpretation. It is a fairly simple story between a little girl and her future cloned self. In its brief running time it poses so many thoughts and ideas that multiple viewings might enhance the experience. This is a very special film. I wish it was available to purchase as a separate item. Although it can be very sad at times there is a hopeful quality and I would like to go back into that world every so often.

Don Hertzfeldt did an opening segment for The Simpsons that is among the best I have ever seen.

A sequel worth of its name

[giuliadl-98397 · 8/10 · 28 January 2021]

Although the visuals were nicer that the first one, I found it harder to follow and not as memorable. Still, I found it to be good. The speech about the insect gave me shivers, it was definitely the best part.

Hertzfeldt keeps delivering

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 28 December 2019]

"World of Tomorrow Episode Two: The Burden of Other People's Thoughts" is a long title for a not so long movie and in the middle of it you see that this film is a sequel, namely to the second Oscar-nominated work by writer and director Don Hertzfeldt and this one here runs for little over 20 minutes, about 5 minutes longer than the original. The voice cast consists of Julia Pott and Winona Mae again. Pott is a 2-time Emmy nominee and Mae is Hertzfeldt's niece. The style and tone is really similar like in the first one, so I won't say too much about that. Anyway, you should watch the first one of course before considering seeing this one. It is not essential, but recommended. As for Hertzfeldt, I think I have seen all or almostg all of his works. He is a filmmaker I really really like because he is as good as it gets when it comes to evoking emotions (mostly negative, but also positive) for me. I really really like some of his older stuff. This one here sadly not as much, but really only because of how much I enjoy his earlier works. What we got here was still a satisfying watch certainly also elevated by the music used in the last third. I think the fact that I rate it roughly 2 stars lower than the average also has to do with the genre here. Science fiction has never been among my most favorite genres I must say and at times I even struggled to understand some of the references in this film that connects characters living centuries apart from each other actually. I think the introduction was really the best thing with the little girl totally acting like a little girl drawing who is just about to meet a new friend. And how her charms really have an impact on the clone. I think she was one right? I am so lost when it comes to sci-fi. Anyway, the dialogue writing by Hertzfeldt is spot-on for sure. As always pretty much. His takes on glimmers of hope (actual glimmers), on memories, on feelings and many other aspects from the human mind is so full of creativity. I also think that his stily is so easy to recognize. Of course this applies to his animation style (even if he uses a lot more colors nowadays), but also to how he writes the characters and what they say. You know it's him immediately. I'd be really curious to see a live action full feature film from him at some point because I believe in terms of animation he has really made the most (actually even more than that) of this genre in terms of his approach. Or if he could write a live action movie. It does not even have to be him directing. I would be so curious to watch that. As for this one here, it is really tough to criticize something that is not entirely subjective for me here, maybe the baby dinosaur which is not something fictitious because they actually existed, but yeah well in a small child's mind it probably is because he never even saw one in terms of how they actually looked. neither did we. You see I have to dig really deep here. I give this one a thumbs-up for sure and I must say I am a bit surprised that this did not get anywhere near the first WoT film in terms of popularity and awards recognition. It's not worse. Still have to see a film by Hertzfeldt that is not a good watch, considerably worse than everything else. His filmography is really close to perfect and I am optimistic it is going to stay like that with future projects. This one is just a little over 2 years old and I really can't wait to see what Hertzfeldt is going to come up with next. The one thing it is certainly going to be is heartfelt. As always with him.