Burrow
Detailed parental analysis
Burrow is a cheerful and warm animated short film with a graphic style reminiscent of an illustrated children's book. A determined female rabbit attempts to build the burrow of her dreams, but her repeated clumsiness ends up disturbing her entire underground community. The film is explicitly aimed at young children, and its six-minute length makes it perfectly calibrated for this audience.
Underlying Values
The central conflict of the film is the fear of others' judgement and paralyzing perfectionism: the rabbit insists on building alone so as not to reveal her shortcomings to her neighbours, which only worsens the situation until catastrophe strikes. The narrative resolves this tension in a direct and honest way: asking for help is not an admission of failure but the condition for success. The community responds without judgement or reproach, which is a structurally strong message, not sentimentalised. There is neither imposed conformism nor valorised performance here: mutual support is presented as natural and desirable, and the diversity of ways of living is shown without hierarchy.
Violence
One scene may briefly surprise: the rabbit encounters in the darkness a badger of which we first see only the eyes and teeth, accompanied by a low growl. The effect is fleeting and immediately defused by the rest of the narrative, but it may worry very young children who are sensitive to sudden appearances in the dark. The flooding caused by the rabbit's mistake constitutes the other moment of tension: it is visually significant and brings about visible emotional distress to the character, but it is resolved collectively and without excessive dramatisation.
Strengths
The film is remarkable for its narrative economy: without a single word of dialogue, it tells with clarity a complete emotional trajectory, from awkward pride to assumed vulnerability. The graphic style, deliberately simplified and close to children's illustration, supports the subject matter without seeking to impress. The direction exploits intelligently the verticality and depth of the burrows to build tension and revelations. It is a short but fully realised work, which proves that genuine emotion needs neither length nor dialogue to make its mark.
Age recommendation and discussion points
The film is suitable from age four, and can be watched without concern from that age onwards. After viewing, two conversations are worth having: ask the child why the rabbit refused to ask for help at the beginning, and what it reminds her of in her own life; then draw her attention to the fact that each neighbour had a different burrow and ask her what she thinks about that.
Synopsis
A young rabbit embarks on a journey to dig the burrow of her dreams, despite not having a clue what she's doing. Rather than reveal to her neighbors her imperfections, she digs herself deeper and deeper into trouble. After hitting (bed)rock bottom, she learns there is no shame in asking for help.
About this title
- Format
- Short film
- Year
- 2020
- Runtime
- 6m
- Countries
- United States of America
- Original language
- EN
- Studios
- Pixar
Content barometer
- Violence1/5Mild
- Fear1/5Mild
- Sexuality0/5None
- Language0/5None
- Narrative complexity0/5Simple
- Adult themes0/5None
Values conveyed
- Acceptance of difference
- Perseverance
- Autonomy
- helpfulness
- friendship
- humility