James Hashimoto is a three-year-old who’s dad, Daniel, is an animator at DreamWorks. Which seems like a sweet gig, considering your pops probably gets early copies of movies. But it gets better. Way, way, way, way better. Daniel makes incredible animations that star young James. The fantastically amazing videos are called “Action Movie Kid.”
In April of 2014, Hashimoto put out Action Movie Kid – Volume 1. The tremendous CGI video went viral and amassed nearly 9 million views on YouTube.
In August of last year, volume 2 was released and it was just as epic. This time the boy wonder was using Portal-like holes to transport and Mario Kart races in the house (I’m sure mom loved that).
Then on Thursday, Action Movie Kid dropped their latest chapter and it is probably my favorite. It starts off with real-life Rock’em Sock’em Robots. Then a trip to Disney where he hitches a ride on Dumbo. James returns to his house to find a Jumanji-like scenario of a hippopotamus in the living room (I’m sure mom loved that). The 3-year-old then played the role of a mini Indiana Jones, a diminutive Batman and a tiny Jedi. Dad went all in on the Star Wars animation and had everything from a frightening Sarlacc to the Millennium Falcon to Stormtroopers with not necessarily pinpoint accuracy. There’s even a hungry T-Rex causing havoc, that is so lifelike that it could have been in Jurassic Park.
So big deal. This three-year-old got to live out every kid’s dream of being in a real-life movie. My dad is a carpenter and he gave me a nail gun to play with when I was 5-years-old. I can’t believe that all these years later doctors still can’t find the nail that’s embedded in my grandpa’s skull.