The Lost Thing, 2011 Oscar for Best Animated Short film

The Lost Thing is a 2000 picture book, written and illustrated by Shaun Tan.

The Lost Thing, animated short film, cover, wallpaper, poster, screenshot, 2011 Oscar for Best Animated Short

The Lost Thing Trailer

Plot

Set in the near future, in dystopian Perth, Australia, The Lost Thing is a story about a boy who enjoys collecting bottle tops for his bottle top collection. One day, while collecting bottle caps near a beach, he discovers a strange creature, that seems to be a combination of an industrial boiler, a crab, and an octopus. This creature is referred to as "The Lost Thing" by the narrator.

The boy realizes the creature is lost and out of place. He attempts to find its owner but is not able to, due to the indifference of everyone else. As he is looking for the creature's owner, he is met by a person who gives him a business card with a weird sign on it. After searching much of the city for the sign, the boy is able to find the sign and return the creature, although he was unable to say whether the creature really belonged there.


2010 film
This book was adapted into 15-minute animated short film in 2010, directed by Tan and Andrew Ruhemann and narrated by Tim Minchin It won the Oscar for Best Animated Short.