SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

sashank_kini-1 The Balloonatic is always on a high when it comes to entertainment value present in Keaton shorts. For the first time, it begins with a close up shot of a spooked Keaton at The House of Trouble, a haunted house at an amusement park. As the camera zooms out of his face, we see him walk towards three different rooms, each time to be surprised by a spooky figure. Once he gets out of the house, he watches a stout lady enter the same place. She loves the haunted house so much she enters the second time. Keaton however moves on to another thrill and soon finds himself on top of a hot air balloon. The balloon crashes and Keaton lands on a tree. While fixing the balloon, he also goes to a lake and tries fishing; in his Keaton-esque manner, he tries to block the flow of water by placing a barricade rocks at the shallow point, only for the water to collect on the other side and soon crash into the barricade and take Keaton along. He encounters a girl who attacks him at first for coming in her way when she dives into the lake, but later becomes close to him. The ending takes you by surprise as you fully expect a disaster only to be baffled. That's the high point of The Balloonatic, another triumph in the joyful Keaton shorts.

Red-Barracuda This Buster Keaton short has a very good title. But as you will discover there really isn't much actual ballooning in it. As you might expect from a short film its pretty simplistic. It begins at a fun-house where Keaton accidentally hitches a ride in a hot air balloon. He is propelled miles away and winds up in the wilderness. He meets a girl out here who isn't initially too keen on him but together they get in to all manner of scrapes including some memorable scenes with grizzly bears.It would be fair to say that this is not a great feature. It doesn't have a very cohesive narrative and essentially boils down to a series of gags loosely connected into the synopsis above. It's really mainly recommended to fans of Keaton and/or silent slapstick in general. Others might be a bit underwhelmed.

Georgette Mattel "The Balloonatic" opens with what I believe is the most beautiful shots of all Keaton's films. The short opens at "The House of Trouble" a fun house which I find amusing, among other things, at telling how less litigious early 20th century America was. Despite the rather death-defying drop as the exit, there are no mile-long warning signs, (which we in 21st America would recognize) and it apparently hasn't been closed down, or, I bet, the owner sued for incurred injuries. I also found it refreshing that for once, Buster set his romantic eye on a curvy girl instead of the svelte jazz babies he usually longs for. The rest of the story deals with Buster vs the outdoors and the heart of a fair maid and ends with a lushly, surreal romantic image.

Polaris_DiB Buster Keaton was a man who liked to tinker with things and survive maelstroms. Both of these things come together in this short to tell the tale of a man who first gets trapped on a balloon, and then has to survive in nature in the middle of nowhere while trying to win the affection of the belle nearby.The beginning starts out in a carnival and isn't really that interesting. Surreal, to be sure, but after the audience figures out what's going on, most of the comedy of the situation doesn't work out as much. However, once Keaton gets on the balloon, it becomes a whole different story altogether, and definitely shows the inventiveness of such a comedic genius. When he's in the wild, as well, the situations he finds himself in is worth more than just a laugh.Overall it's definitely worth a good watch or two. Buster Keaton is the type of artist where everything he does is good enough to take a look-see, and definitely to rave about. Plus, being that this is a short, it's a quick thing you can watch with friends during a party or something. Highly recommended.--PolarisDiB