Rob Munday

IKEA adverts, Bjork music videos, unfinished video games for rap superstars, Encyclopedia Pictura have been involved in some impressive projects over the years and the release of a new piece of work from the film and animation studio always feels like an event to be excited about (for me anyway!). Jordan Speer’s Sunbelly – a vibrant 3D animation following the adventures of a canine space explorer – is no exception, with its distinct style and spirited storyline unlike anything else I’ve seen recently.

Opening with a shot of a scorched, luminous yellow planet, as a spaceship appears in it’s orbit, the first suspicion we get that Sunbelly is going to present something a little unexpected, is when we get a close-up of the intergalactic vehicle and realise it’s dog-shaped. From here on out, we’re taken on a psychedelic journey through devastated cityscapes and frozen wastelands as our four-legged adventurer discovers the history of dogkind, in the hope of building a brighter future.

It’s a lot to fit into 16-minutes, but surprisingly Sunbelly is quite a leisurely-paced short, with its viewing experience more focused on a little quiet reflection, rather than all out action (although there is a great chase sequence around the six-minute mark). Speer and his team do excellent work in instantly immersing viewers into their universe, the rich detail in the short’s inventive world-building making you buy into the universe and its inhabitants right from the start. There’s immediate intrigue here as well, as you’re desperate to find out more and again, it’s to Speer’s credit that he both wraps his storyline effectively and leaves you desperate for more.

How can we not want to see more of this little guy?

Although the premise here is inventive and it’s soooo refreshing to see an animation in which the animals aren’t overly anthropomorphised, it’s the aesthetic that’s the big draw in Sunbelly. This is 3D animation of the highest quality, but again it stands out for trying to be different. Super-slick photorealism isn’t on the agenda, instead there’s a certain roughness and fuzz to the visuals that, like in most of Encyclopedia Pictura work, lends the style a certain organic quality. There’s some great character design here as well, but surprisingly its on the vehicles, who almost appear to have a life of their own – especially the dog-head shuttle, which unfurls legs when landing and uses its artificial nose for reconnaissance. There are just so many wonderful design elements on show – that robotic flea, the Chihuahua in the futuristic googles, the multicoloured blob that transforms the planet – it’s somewhat dizzying to take it all in, but again this just seems on-brand for an Encyclopedia Pictura film.

I have a real soft spot for science-fiction and love to see the genre pushed to its seemingly limitless boundaries with the creation of new worlds and the exploration of them, so Sunbelly was a short that instantly caught my attention and certainly didn’t disappoint. 2022 has already brought us stories of ghost dogs, animated corpse dogs and now space dogs…who knows what Halloween might have in store?