Darkly dystopian yet magically hopeful, this CAA Marketing/Moonbot Studious-created three minute animated film, “The Scarecrow,” flips things on its head and tells the story of an out-of-work, disintermediated scarecrow who goes to work for a bunch of crows running a processed foods factory called Crow Foods.
In this bleak, barren new world, our scarecrow gets a peek inside the Crow factory at chickens pumped with hormones and cows kept in boxes. The experience, for both the scarecrow and the viewer, is depressing and hits all too close to home. It’s no secret much of what we eat can barely be called food any longer but Chipotle, which two years ago delighted us with it award-winning “Back to the Start,” aims to change all that.
The film, backed by a haunting Fiona Apple cover of “Pure Imagination” which you will recognize from the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, is quite depressing for the first two thirds but then our scarecrow protagonist decides to take matters into his own hands. He heads home after a grueling day at work and decides to cultivate and sell the freshly-grown product from his tiny little farm, apparently the last one standing in this new world order.
Accompanying the film is a game will allows players to “fly through the city of Plenty to transport confined animals to open pastures, fill fields with diverse crops at Scarecrow Farms, and serve wholesome food to the citizens at PlentyFull Plaza, all while avoiding menacing Crowbots.”
It’s truly beautiful work that is, no doubt, destined to win more awards.
