The Mandrake is a 2D animated short film from 2020, originally premiered at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival.
When a wicked witch (a badger) is unable to grow a mandrake she needs as an ingredient, she hires a local farmer named Herman (a rabbit) to grow it for her. Unbeknownst to Herman, when the mandrake sprouts it has the appearance and personality of a young child (albeit a green one).
The short can be seen on the official YouTube channel here
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The Mandrake provides examples of:
- Bad Ol' Badger: The Witch is a badger, and is certainly bad. Not only does she want to use a sapient child as an ingredient, she refuses to take her money back and tries to kill Herman to get her hands on it.
- Ear Ache: The Mandrake yanks on Herman’s long rabbit ears at one point.
- Funny Animal: The world seems to be populated by these, though we only see a rabbit, a badger and very briefly two frogs.
- Happily Adopted: By the end of the short, the Mandrake had taken on the role of a son to Herman, and seems very happy about it.
- Hoist by Her Own Petard: The Witch tries to kill Herman by throwing balls of purple flame that cause whatever they touch to turn into brown goop. Herman deflects one with a washtub and it hits the witch, turning her into a puddle of goop.
- Interspecies Adoption: An anthropomorphic rabbit adopts the mandrake he grew.
- Plant Person: The Mandrake is one, and was grown in a pot.
- Righteous Rabbit: Herman is a hard-working farmer with a kind personality.
- Silence Is Golden: There is no dialogue in this short.
- Stock Animal Diet: Herman isn’t seen eating them, but his farm seems almost entirely dedicated to growing large carrots.
- That Poor Plant: Every time the Witch tries to grow her own mandrake, it withers in moments, so she hands it to Herman. Also, her arrival to Herman's farm is always heralded by a plant dying, and the spells she uses to try and kill Herman causes some of his carrots to grow bigger and then decay and dissolve.
