5/5 A must have for animation fans, but ...
  by Scott J. Smith (Tewksbury, MA USA)
I had the pleasure of seeing the third Animation Show in a theater last year and loved it. If you're a mature person who enjoys animation at all I highly recommend this DVD and the previous boxed set release of Vol 1 & 2. This is a chance to see a wide variety of animated shorts with different, styles, stories, & moods.
When most people think of animation they think of Looney Tunes type comedies and kids entertainment. The cartoons that are featured on these DVDs will give those people an idea of how varied animated storytelling can get.

Now the "BUT" ...
This DVD, like Vol 1 & 2, removes a few shorts that were shown in the theatrical presentation and adds ones that weren't.

This DVD release does not include
"9" by Shane Acker
"Overtime" by Oury Atlan, Thibaut Berland and Damien Ferrie
"Eaux Forte (Tidal Wave)" by Remi Chaye
"Davey and Son of Goliath" by Corky Quackenbush

Shorts added to the DVD are:
"Astronauts" by Matthew Walker
"Carlitopolis" by Nieto
"One D" by Mike Grimshaw
"Tyger" by Guilherme Marcondes
"Learn Self Defense" by Chris Harding
"Abigail" by Tony Comely
"Shuteye Hotel" by Bill Plympton

While it's great that they added some new material to the package, it's frustrating that anything was cut out. This is especially frustrating because they cut one of my favorite films in the program, Shane Acker's "9". The good news is "9" is being developed as a feature length film being released in September of this year, so I'm sure the short will be found on the DVD?/Blu-Ray release next year.

Even without the 4 missing films this is a tremendous value for any animation fan. I'm looking forward to the release of vol 4 (which I missed seeing in a theater, and I hope that they're planning a vol 5 for this fall.

4/5 More cartoons you never knew existed
  by AMP (Somewhere on Earth)
The Good Things
*Good video/sound quality.
*A very good collection of animated shorts from all over the world in different styles, moods, genres, and mediums. Each one is distinctive, artistic, and invoking in their own ways. They're all worthwhile watching.

The Bad Things
*Most shorts are not for kids due to language and violence (and some sexuality in "Dreams and Desires").
*The cover is a little misleading. There are no mutant lobsters or dive-bombing airplanes in any of the shorts (but it is an imaginative cover).

The Other Things
*Presented in fullscreen. Any widescreen shorts are letterboxed.
*Any shorts in a foreign language have English subtitles.

And here is the list of the short films themselves:
*Beavis and Butthead Introduction; it's short, dumb, and funny.
*"Rabbit," which appears to be a computer-animated film with no spoken words, but has words everywhere surrounding stuff. It's a funky style that's visually interesting. The story itself (about two kids who discover an idol that spawns jewels and stuff) is morbid and weird, but has a fairy-tale charm to it.
*"City Paradise," which appears to have real actors animated in weird ways. It's a funky artsy film that makes little sense, but is kind of slick. I couldn't even say what it's about; some Japanese lady moves to a big city and apparently swims to the core of the Earth.
*"Everything Will Be Okay," a bleak drama with stick figures, about a man who appears to have a neurological disorder and is about to die. Its long, but at times funny and emotional. Very strong themes about death.
*"Collision," which is just a very short burst of cool computer-generated stars and stuff.
*"Astronauts," a funny computer-generated film about stupid astronauts.
*"Carlitopolis," is a French film that shows a live actor experimenting with a seemingly live rat (which has been animated to show cartoonish effects). It's pretty neat.
*"No Room for Gerold," is like a German soap opera, only the people have animal heads.
*"Guide Dog," probably my favorite, a cute little film about a dog desperately trying to serve his masters.
*"One D," a funny computer-animated film about a world in the first dimention.
*"Tyger," a funky combination of CGI and shadow puppets. It's artistic and cool. Based on a poem, it shows a gigantic tiger moving through a city, turning everything into a jungle.
*"Versus," a French CGI film about two groups of samurai trying to wipe each other out in very funny ways.
*"Learn Self Defense," a hilarious lesson in how to fight.
*"Abigail," is a strange but artistic short. It depicts a crashing plane with crazy people inside.
*"Shuteye Hotel," is a combination of rough sketchy drawing and CGI. It's a film-noir thriller about people who die at a hotel.
*"Dreams and Desires," a very rough sketchy cartoon about a woman trying to film a wedding.
*"Game Over," an awesome stop-motion animated diddy showing old-fashioned computer games (like Pac-Man or Centipede) using various objects and shapes.

As a fan of any form of animation, I was pleased with this collection. It made me laugh and cry. I'd gladly reccomend it to anybody looking for good artistic shorts.

1/5 Oh Dear!
  by Art Teacher (San Diego)
I teach digital animation at a local college.
Volume 2 has some good animation samples.
This volume, number three, does not compare to the first one.
The animation samples were poorly chosen and it wasn't
even worth the discounted price.