Don't Croak is a 2019 All-CGI Cartoon short film made by Daun Kim. The short film is about a frog who tries to escape a middle school's laboratory while being chased by a crazed girl who is about to dissect him.
It can be viewed here
on YouTube.
Due to its short length, no spoilers are marked.
Don't Croak contains examples of:
- Agony of the Feet: The blade of the girl's scalpel falls through her shoe, and she screams briefly before pulling it out.
- An Arm and a Leg: In the end, the frog wakes up in a restaurant and finds that all his limbs have been removed and served as fried frog legs.
- Artistic License:
- Frogs brought in for dissection usually come pre-killed. Though it's possible the girl caught the frogs herself and purposely kept them alive before dissecting them.
- French chefs don't just grab random frogs from the wild. Frogs prepared as food are raised in farms. Also, their bodies aren't served along with their legs.
- Bookends: The short film starts and ends with the frog waking up and seeing the ceiling before looking around and slowly realizing what's going on.
- Bloodless Carnage: No blood or gore is visible when we see another frog getting cut in the chest, the girl's foot getting impaled by the scalpel, and the frog waking up with all his limbs gone and served as frog legs in a restaurant.
- Determinator: The girl is dead set on dissecting the frog, with not even a scalpel through the foot stopping her. She only gives up once the frog escapes through the window.
- Downer Ending: The frog manages to escape from the girl and the middle school lab, but gets caught shortly after and has all his limbs removed and served as food in a restaurant all while he screams in terror.
- Economy Cast: There's oddly no teacher or other students in the classroom.
- Enfant Terrible: The girl is visibly crazy and has no problems trying to dissect the frog while grinning creepily.
- Eye Poke: Near the end, when being grabbed by the girl, the frog uses his tongue to poke both of her eyes to stun her, allowing him to escape from her.
- Hope Spot: Just when the frog finally escapes from the middle school lab through the window and lands on the lilypond. He sighs with relief, believing he is free before he gets grabbed by an unknown figure and the next scene shows him being served as food.
- No-Dialogue Episode: None of the characters actually speak. They just make noises.
- No Name Given: Neither the frog nor the girl are ever named, within the film or the credits.
- Sadist: With no teacher or other students present, it appears the girl is just dissecting frogs for her own sick amusement, rather than for educational purposes.
- Slasher Smile: The girl sports a huge grin and wide eyes when she is about to dissect the frog and when she spots the frog hiding behind the glass jars.