‘War Is Over!’ Trailer: John Lennon-Inspired Animated Short Finds Beauty in the Battle | Exclusive Video

“War Is Over!,” inspired by John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s classic song “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” is one of the animated short films vying for an Oscar nomination this year and just got nominated for the Annie Award. And we have the brand-new trailer, which you can watch above.

The short is set in an alternate history World War I, where two soldiers on opposite sides of the conflict engage in a game of chess via a plucky carrier pigeon.

As the fighting escalates, so too does the game. It’s absolutely gorgeous and deeply moving – a story of survival, camaraderie and beauty in the midst of heated battle. The animation is a startling combination of 3D computer animation enhanced by 2D flourishes, not unlike “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” or Netflix’s “Arcane.”

Written and directed by Dave Mullins, a longtime Pixar animator and the creator of 2017’s short “Lou” (about a creature made up of discarded items from an elementary school playground), and produced by Brad Booker.

Sean Ono Lennon and Yoko Ono serve as executive producers. The animation was produced by Peter Jackson’s Wētā FX using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. And the score for “War Is Over!” was composed by Thomas Newman, who composed the score for Pixar favorites “Finding Nemo,” “WALL•E” and, most recently, “Elemental.”

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