Frog Jam: A Very Simple Idea, A Very Enjoyable Outcome

Dylan Powers’ Frog Jam, all of three minutes long, is a borderline absurdist comedy mixing animation and live-action. Its central character, the Frog, is designed with the simplicity and delight of a squeeze toy as it dances away an equally simple jig. And the world loses it.

The story goes like this: when encountering a portal opening in the sky, an ordinary frog with the courage and curiosity to do it, takes the chance and lets itself be taken away. When it returns, it brings the world a revolutionary discovery: the frog jam. Anyone can do it, and everyone wants to do it.

Tellingly, the film opens on a news anchor’s (Melanie Lech) real or feigned surprised joy at just how much fun Frog Jam—the choreography from outer space brought to frogkind and humanity—is. Because besides the humour and catchy music and steps, the film also serves you a neat platter summing up the contemporary media landscape. Televised news, podcasts, vox pop, radio shows, pop culture integration. Everything makes an appearance. And though it could easily have been sloppy, these sequences are well-made, funny without trying for obvious irony, the devotion as visible as the portal that opened up in the sky for the Frog to fly through. The animation sequences flow smoothly, driven by a sense of boundless energy and possibilities. The Frog’s movements are natural, which gives the dance its characteristic blend of comic nonchalance and easy replicability—a sure formula for online popularity. Within this world, the frog jam and its signature move are as groundbreaking as dabbing. The Frog has found enlightenment and it is going to spread it.

Afterwards, there will be a blooper reel as essential to the fun as the film itself.

Watch Frog Jam Short Film