Dear Basketball (2017)

Directed by: Glen Keane | 6 minutes | animation, short film | Original voice cast: Kobe Bryant

He was a five-time NBA champion, twice top scorer in the same American basketball league and with his 32,293 points he is third in the NBA’s perennial top scorer standings, behind Kareem-Abdul Jabbar and Karl Malone, but ahead of Michael Jordan: Kobe Bryant. The shooting guard, dubbed “The Black Mamba,” played his entire 20-year career for the Los Angeles Lakers. In November 2015, Bryant announced his retirement and on April 13, 2016, he played his last game. Although the Lakers had a particularly bad season, Bryant’s retirement was one to be framed. He scored no less than sixty points – a season record – although opponent Utah Jazz will not have put an inch in his way out of respect for the great champion. Bryant announced his retirement with a ‘self-written poem entitled ‘Dear Basketball’, in which he displays his love for the sport and tries to inspire the youth to pursue their dreams.

That same poem is the source of inspiration for a five-minute and 22-second animated film with the same title, recorded by the basketball legend himself for extra authenticity. Bryant worked for the realization of the film together with big names from the film world. He managed to get Glen Keane, the experienced animator from Disney with, among others, ‘The Little Mermaid’ (1989), ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (1991) and ‘Aladdin’ (1992) to his list of achievements and provides none other than John Williams the score. Keane: “I love movement. My son Max played basketball and I was often sketching him during his games. So I already knew that rhythm.” Keane kept that sketching style for “Dear Basketball” (2017) because it lends itself perfectly to the powerful yet elegant moves NBA star Bryant was known for. With his athleticism, jumping power and grace, he defied all laws of gravity and that is what Keane wants to emphasize with his pencil sketching style. Moreover, the hand drawn is closer to the essence of Kobe the sportsman: no match is the same, as no sketch is the same as another. We see Kobe as a young boy throwing a ball rolled from his father’s socks into a makeshift basket; the start of an illustrious career. Since he was about five or six years old, Bryant – whose father also played basketball at a high level – has dreamed of a career with the LA Lakers. He practices his speed and agility with a chair course that he set out for himself in the driveway of the house. Keane shows Bryant’s progress and shows the viewer what’s going on in his head. All the characteristic ‘moves’ of The Black Mamba are shown.

In addition, Keane knows how to see in an inventive way that that little guy of six and the 1.98 meter tall NBA All Star are still very closely intertwined. He does this by superimposing their sketched alter egos. On a technical level, he and his son Max (who is on the role as a production designer) tried everything; for example, the beads of sweat on Bryant’s face were created using an iPhone. Thanks to Keane’s beautifully elegant drawing style and the love that everyone involved has put into this project, ‘Dear Basketball’ is a little gem of animation, in which an athlete talks about his love for the sport, and what it’s like to let it go . Keane portrays Kobe as a ballerina in basketball shoes, a great figure in his sport, but at the same time shows where the seeds were sown for that impressive career; with that little boy who once had a dream. ‘Dear Basketball’ is one of the short animated films that has a chance to win an Oscar; given the unique style, the pure passion for sportsmen and sports and the original approach, an award with the coveted golden statue for this film would certainly not be unjustified.