WILD LOVE | Omeleto Animation

A couple is hunted down by wild animals.
WILD LOVE is used with permission from Maryka Laudet. Learn more at imdb.com/title....
A young couple heads to the mountains to enjoy a romantic camping trip, complete with verdant meadows and heart-shaped clouds.
But when a hiking pole falls down a scenic cliff where the couple was grabbing a selfie, the pole kills a cute little forest rodent, to the heartbreak of its loved one. Vowing revenge, the animals band together to exact brutal revenge on the humans who have dared trespass on their natural habitat.
This Oscar-longlisted short -- directed by Maryka Laudet and Quentin Camus, and co-directed by Paul Antric, Lea Georges, Zoe Sottiaux and Corentin Yvergniaux -- begins with a charming, colorful and idyllic sequence of two hikers in love, enjoying nature and one another. It's sweet and romantic -- until a pole falls down a cliff they're climbing, impaling a poor little groundhog below in a gruesome death.
The juxtaposition of bright whimsy with the macabre is the first clue that this short is no mere children's cartoon. It may be called WILD LOVE, but the storytelling is truly a wild ride, segueing from romantic comedy into a dark horror tale of violence, mayhem and revenge. The visual imagination is dextrous and detail-oriented: the character and world design are both cute but increasingly creepy, whether it's in the moodiness of encroaching evening haze or the growing martial-like bloodthirstiness of the forest's rodents, which have banded together to exact revenge on the hikers.
The pacing and editing also know how to build sequences of tension, with brisk pacing that keeps the audience entertained and wondering what happens next. As the action propels forward, it achieves the tautness and tension of a climax straight out of a horror film -- complete with a corpse puppet, a showdown and a grisly end.
Created via the same initiative that paired French animation school Ecole de Nouvelles Images with French animation collective MegaComputeur -- which also resulted in last year's Oscar-nominated Hors Piste -- WILD LOVE is a thrill-filled romp that relies on a good amount of cinematic shock-and-awe -- though much of the shock is in how far it's willing to push at the cultural trope of the "cute animal," one that powers the sharing of millions of videos, memes and social media accounts devoted to adorable critters.
But perhaps there's a wary lesson for us humans, who have never quite been able to subdue the collective desire to dominate nature, whether it's through brute force or the condescension of cuteness, however well-intended or seemingly benign. In a state of peace and rest, nature is beautiful, but it's not just a backdrop for a selfie. When disturbed or damaged by human presence, the earth can marshal considerable resources -- okay, maybe usually not in the form of an army of vengeful critters -- in a reaction that's pitiless against the people causing the problem to begin with.

[@angelamercedes5136]

Oh look! They're in an episode of Happy Tree Friends. 😆

[@emmanuelwinston6071]

U watch that too?

[@Helloooooo487]

Lol

[@Helloooooo487]

Bro this is happy tree friends but human version animals vs humans

[@EXTRA300s]

Well, that escalated quickly. Great movie :)

[@divalea]

Oh, of COURSE the couple brought unnecessary string lights. That was so messed up, and yet awesome.

[@notnormaldude3069]

This is great, I'm getting tired of generic story of being forgiving haha

[@TheDeathOfPassion]

Wasnt expecting the gore at all

[@taylorhorner1065]

Damn. That was gruesome lol

[@supriyagawali95]

But..but...it was just an accident😲😲

[@thisisntmyrealemailloser]

Oh jeez, this ended up worst then I thought, like they literally made the couple into Homes.

[@marialuigia21]

It seems a Burton's horror party. Nice.

[@shigi5321]

the animation is amazing!! so sad its not getting more attention

[@martinquarton184]

It's a proper horror story.

[@gratefulgrace8023]

Wow! Such a complete, complex story packed into 7 minutes. I was so hurt for the grieving critter. His scream broke my heart. I hope I never experience the pain of losing a loved one so tragically. I know it was an accident and I am not advocating violence, but I love how the little guys pulled together to avenge the death of their beloved. Yet, we saw the opposite behavior in the "every man for himself" actions of our human leading man. My emotions were all over the place. This video, while absolutely horrifying, was entertaining and enjoyable.

[@spoons641]

This is why I despise groundhogs I always thought they were organized. And I'm a farmer so it's a lot more real and personal. That's why I have a freaking tomahawk and I'm not afraid to go toe to toe with the little F***

[@nova4005]

Well that was unexpected. But good.

[@danielramos6325]

The thing is as happy tree friends 🩸

[@swethaasokan5477]

I thought may be they'll forgive her and make her realise that he's not what she thought or something.....but 😂 I wasn't disappointed....that was great😉

[@demonic_path9752]

Put me in a position where that would happen or worse i would save the one i love even as she hates me now

[@tommyhill19]

He doesn't know it's an accident

[@sorencreptic549]

Yeah Im not going camping again- like seriously-

[@ceejayviii]

Me too bro🤞😅 no kidding, thu sh*t was scary asf

[@Tiny_potato]

How my parents thought I was playing: “Oh wow look she must be playing house!” How five year old me was actually playing:

[@BossShirley]

Truly. Iconic.

[@user-hz2xl4co9u]

Well, that took a dark turn from smelling flowers, looking at clouds...🤪

[@glen7228]

So now we know what happens to the "missing" campers.

[@chipsahoy1122]

Well Happy Valentines Day, Everyone!

[@mr.m.g3268]

bro worked hard but or only 41K views thats not fair

[@foreverpinkf.7603]

Unknown dangers of nature. Very funny.

[@tomhollandsclone]

I thought this was some cute Disney thing

[@iqraali4810]

Mini horror film 🎥

[@Ryumongu13]

This is a nightmare💀

[@ziliwu4894]

CGI happy tree friends be like:

[@IamEL1979]

revange ✨

[@JackJack25]

Why are some movies vanishing from your site?

[@shatakshidogra2724]

I don't know what I watched😶‍🌫😶‍🌫

[@SSL331]

I REALLY dont know, what to feel. One side is amaized with this animation. Another one - want to puke.

[@emiliopineda5962]

Bueno eso pasa a campistas q no respetan a la naturaleza

[@foxjerseycol4433]

Thankyou 💗

[@emmiewilliams7546]

Reminds me a bit of vampire beavers🙂

[@akanksha1610]

Ohhh god ....it's scary 😱😱😱

[@machinelover_entertainment]

This is worse than Halloween Kills

[@orlando5]

reminds me of love death plus robots

[@proof6996]

what the f..

[@jgc1368]

남자는 먼 잘못이야...

[@TheAbsolutestillness]

Wow

[@msvicki]

Gigglesnort

[@skycatcher77]

It's so scary I muted the sound

[@Shibaboidoggo]

Wtf

[@shweta7153]

Dude 😷

[@tabl.]

this went way too far with the humans it would have been fine in reality 💀

[@ceejayviii]

Giving us black folks more reasons not to go to the woods again💔😳. That sh*t was scary asf

[@guu5506]

Waaahhhhhhhh

[@frankaldenborg2272]

it was horrible i hated it!!!

[@valentinaanitelav9642]

🐹 .....😵 ............ 😆😆😆😆😆!!

[@user-pm9ln8zw3h]

저거 뒷예기가 저. 머밋. 인가? 다. 뒤졌으면 돟겠다😊

[@retrobat1631]

11,666Th View.

[@eunducki]

ㄷ

[@daveweller9579]

Prairie dogs are squirrel s squirrels are evil 😈just saying

[@dreampedaller2113]

No! I think you got that wrong. How do you know you’re right anyway? I’ll give you a clue: you don’t. Humans are evil….

[@crispy.dragon]

This sucks, it kind of looks like a kids' cartoon from the aesthetics at first but then it gets gruesome. I honestly don't have any good impressions for this, I'm just surprised some people out there were patient enough to make trash like this instead of a good animation with a wise message or an intriguing story. 0/10

[@Sebuah_Keju]

Bro you never watch happy tree friends? 💀

[@crispy.dragon]

@@Sebuah_Keju I literally discovered it yesterday and saw this comment right now for some reason. I just don't see the point of it all, seriously, is it that fun watching cartoony characters that get brutally tortured or murdered for no reason? I get it if someone puts brutality in a show, videogame or movie because they want to bring a deep message to the viewer, I can appreciate that, but why do people keep creating gore content that a kid might watch on accident because it's designed to look like something 100% friendly??

[@Sebuah_Keju]

@@crispy.dragon you do have a point, i gotta agree, what if childrens come across this kind of thing, we don't know what they become later when they grown ups

[@crispy.dragon]

@@Sebuah_KejuYeah, that's what I'm talking about, sure, I don't think they'll become psychos when they'll grow up, I'm just saying that bad stuff would happen, I'm talking from experience: I literally got scared from a weird hypno (from pokemon) drawing once when I was a kid and I couldn't sleep for an entire week. And I repeat, it was just a creepy drawing of a pokemon, imagine what this video or happy tree friends would cause to a kid. Thank you for listening to me, people online tend to either ignore one's reasons to complain about something or just push forward their stubbornness.

[@gratefulgrace8023]

I've never heard of Happy Tree Friends before seeing it in the comments. I watched an episode and I was not impressed. It was a gratuitous gore-fest, one episode was enough. This is not HTF. This short has a storyline and a message. Humans are an arrogant, entitled species. We do things without considering the consequences of how our actions, even accidental, affect others, including woodland creatures. We need to be respectful of nature. Pack it in, pack it out, and leave no trace. Mother Earth WILL fight back. Maybe not with an army of rodents, but with wild fires, floods, and other natural disasters. We've been warned. I agree with the comment about children stumbling across this then being traumatized when it takes a dark turn. However, I, as an adult, absolutely loved this.