Each week the folks at Cinema Circus show a series of short films on Wednesday evenings at the Chilmark Community Center. The films begin at 6 p.m. but at 5 p.m. the circus — complete with jugglers, face painters, stilt walkers, food and music — gets underway.

An advanced screening of the films is arranged with a young Island cineaste, plucked from the target audience. In a world with few certainties, the kid critic is the critic to trust. Unfettered by economics, societal pressure, perhaps even good taste, the kid critics have no agenda. They have no filters nor is there any chance of hyperbolic windblowing designed to get everyone to see the movie. In fact, fewer people showing up might mean more popcorn for these young reviewers.

This week’s review is Brendan Kelso.

Hansel and Gretel (director Virginia Wilkos / U.S.A. / 2005 / 14 min.)

Hansel and Gretel is a cartoon telling the fairy tale of brother and sister Hansel and Gretel. The evil stepmother wants Hansel and Gretel’s father to leave them in the woods so she has enough to eat. She is really mean and she is always eating. After Hansel and Gretel are in the woods overnight, they find the witch’s house of candy. This is a great house. They eat the house and the witch also feeds them great food, because she wants to get them fat and eat them. Then she puts Hansel in a cage. She is going to eat him! I think Hansel is kind of lucky. He just sits in the cage and Gretel has to do all the work. I like Hansel because he always has good ideas. He holds out a bone to make the witch think he was not getting fatter for her to eat. I was very happy when Gretel pushed the witch into the oven.

Tiger (Dir. Janis Cimermanis / Latvia / 2010 / 9 min.)

A circus comes to town and drops a crate. Everyone in the town wonders what is in it. Then finally someone comes to open the cage and a baby tiger comes out. The people pet it and the mother tiger comes out and ROARS! This made me feel bad because I didn’t like the roaring part. Then three people keep the tigers in a house. The circus comes back to town and the tigers are in the act. The mother tiger knows everything to do but the baby tiger keeps on messing up. The same three people dress up as the tigers and take their place. The tigers get sent to India. I liked the ending because it was happy.

Mondo’s Search for the Sun (Dir. Jana Prchalova / U.K. / 2010 / 11 min.)

This is a movie about a man who wants to take a trip to the sun. He makes a cool flying machine. There is a cool part where a whale comes up. He swallows Mondo. The whale has drawers inside him. There is a drawer with Mondo’s name on it and in it are an old sock he used to have, a picture of him when he was a little boy, and a key with a heart on it. He is traveling in time. The whale drops him in a place where time has stopped. There is another man who is trying all kinds of different keys in a door but none of them works. Mondo’s key works and time starts again. But why is Mondo sad? He remembers when he had the key and he locked kids out of his yard. The man gives him the key back and they go in the flying machine. Then they go back to Mondo’s house and open the gate. I loved it.

All That Cats (Dir. Mátyás Lanczinger / Hungary/ 2009 / 4 min.)

This is my favorite movie. It has lots of beatboxing, which is when people are making noise and other crazy sounds with their voices. I got up and danced in the beginning. There is one cat who is beatboxing to a baby. There is another cat who is watching TV and changing channels a lot. One guy is making noise with his zipper in the library, which you are not allowed to do. Another guy is beatboxing and he sneezes and gets a beard. My favorite part is when one cat is on a swing and the music and beatboxing get faster and faster. Then he falls down. It was so funny.

Brer Rabbit and Boss Lion (Dir. Roze Stiebra / Latvia / 2010? / 9 min.)

This cartoon was in another language, Latvian. There are a lot of animals. Lion comes to the town, takes a pig, and scares everyone! Brer Rabbit is chosen to talk to the lion. They will feed the lion so he stops coming to get them. One animal has to be the first to go be eaten by the lion. I was a little confused at the part where Rabbit is marking all the pieces of paper with x’s. He is putting x’s on all the tickets so he is not the one who has to go to the lion. But then the animals make Rabbit choose first! He gets an x. But Rabbit makes a plan. He tricks the lion into looking into a well. Rabbit tells lion there is someone in the well eating all his meat. Lion jumps in the well! Rabbit’s plan worked! And he lets all the animals out of their cages.

Johnny (Dir. Maleena Modeer / Germany / 2010 / 5 min.)

This person Johnny doesn’t like drinking milk. The mother warned him he needed to drink his milk, and she was right. He wouldn’t listen to his mom, and he shrinks. He is really tiny. The cleaning lady swept up Johnny. He got thrown in the garbage, caught on a branch, and met a bird who tries to give him worms. The bird flies him home and from then on he ate everything. I liked this movie. I wonder how they made Johnny shrink.