Flatworld is a British 1997 animated short film directed by Daniel Greaves and produced by Nigel Pay and Patrick Veale. It features the characters Matt Phlatt, a repairman; Geoff, Matt's pet cat; and Chips, Matt's pet fish. The plot concerns an accident that occurs with an underground cable at Matt's work, which causes portals to open between different TV channel dimensions, represented by paper cutouts and different cartoon styles. The three characters encounter a bank robber attempting to flee through the dimensions, and have to foil the robbery and hand the criminal over to the police before they can return to their own dimension and correct the fault.
The film is intended for a family audience and includes themes of pets, friendship, bullying, and everyday heroism.
Flatworld features examples of:
- Alternate Universe: The protagonists' universe is constructed entirely of paper cutouts. The other parallel universes are represented by cartoon styles with varying levels of realism.
- Big Fun: Geoff the cat. Generally cheerful and the most likeable of the three characters. Matt tries to restrict his food as he's overweight.
- Blatant Burglar: The antagonist.
- Cats Are Lazy: Geoff, a typical cat, who prefers sleeping, eating, and relaxing.
- Cool Car: Matt steals a car from a production line. As his world is made from paper, the car has the remnants of a dotted cut-out line showing at the edge.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Geoff and Chips.
- Paper People: The protagonists are literally paper cutouts animated using a combination of traditional drawings and stopmotion techniques. Used to various effect when characters are able to slide through door cracks and a hostage is crumpled into a ball and stuffed inside a bag.
- Reformed Bully: Chips starts off as a very unlikeable and almost Machiavellian character in the way he treats his friends, framing Geoff for stealing food and staging his own death to make Matt think Geoff has eaten him. During the course of the story, peril caused by a common enemy causes him to help his friends and becomes a kinder person.
- Silent Movie: The film contains vocal sound effects to convey the mood of its characters, but no dialogue as such.
- Stop Motion: Uses a technique combining cut-out figures and traditional animation, similar to but rather more painstaking than The Saga Of Noggin the Nog and was nominated for a BAFTA and has won several international awards.
- The Everyman: Matt Phlatt, a hardworking repairman who lives a humble life in a block of flats.
