REVIEW: FOURTH ANIMATION CELEBRATION
Mark R. Leeper
FOURTH ANIMATION CELEBRATION
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
It is time again for Expanded Entertainment to send touring around
major cities their annual animation celebration. These used to be better
than they are now. In large part that is because what used to go into just
the Tournee of Animation is now spread over the annual Tournee, the
celebration, and into competing festivals such as the British Animation
Explosion. There just isn't enough innovative animation for four new
animation anthologies a year. This year's animation was almost entirely
traditional flat animation.
Notably missing was clay animation. Also missing was any entry from
Pixar with their simulated 3-D animation. (Hey, Craig, if you are reading
this, when is Pixar going to get more into story-telling? Is computer
animation cost-effective for the sort of story-telling Will Vinton does? I
think it is probably pretty tough to create likable characters with computer
animation, at least for now.) Also fewer were the number of pieces with an
ecology/conservation theme. (This may not be such a bad time to re-evaluate
conservation, actually. Fact: carbon dioxide is building in the atmosphere
SLOWER than we expected. Interpretation: each year nature is becoming more,
not less, efficient at converting CO-2 to oxygen. Apparent conclusion: in
spite of massive losses at the Amazon, worldwide vegetable biomass is on the
increase. Hindsight explanation: excesses of carbon dioxide and nitrogen in
the atmosphere are healthy for plant life. If there is an excess, plant
life can adjust to take up the slack. This is not confirmed as yet, but
there does appear to be more to it than just wishful thinking. Source:
Morning Edition, National Public Radio.)
I generally rate the pieces excellent (E), very good (VG), good (G),
fair (F), and poor (P). I thought this year there were neither poor films
not excellent ones; there was only one fair.
- "Madcap" (Phil Denslow; USA; 2:05): Apparently meaningless gyrating
spots and lines are interspersed with title cards containing
increasingly weird disclaimers. (G)
- "Canfilm" (Zlatin Radev; Bulgaria; 18:11): The best (and longest) piece
of the fest. It took me a little while to figure out what the
analogies were in this allegory. We see a country whose citizens are
food cans. As we open, the proper contents to have are cherries. Then
a new regime comes along that wants all the cans to hold tomatoes.
Secret police cans carry off cans of cherries to teach them proper
contents. Some very nice ideas. (VG)
- "Dancing" (Bruno Bozzetto; Italy; 2:41): Bozzetto had at the 1991
FESTIVAL OF ANIMATION a very nice piece on the history of warfare
("Grasshoppers"). This piece is unfortunately a good deal more
cryptic. It is an image of a man dancing on a rock and visited by
Death. (G)
- "The Song of Wolfgang the Intrepid, Destroyer of Dragons" (Mikhail
Tumelya; USA?; ?:??): Wolfgang sets off to slay a very large but
sleeping dragon. Light and fun. (This and the next two items were not
listed in the program, so the country and running times are unknown.)
(G)
- "A Smaller World" (Corky Quakenbush; USA?; ?:??): A satire on soap
operas told with dolls facing life. A doll couple ordering a baby doll
from a catalogue discovers it is bigger than either of them. Not as
funny as it sounds. (G)
- "Buttons" (?; USSR?; ?:??): This piece (as well as the previous two)
was not in the program. Nevertheless, it is one of the better pieces.
A wealthy official goes through his day oblivious to the fact that
every time he pushes a button--like a doorbell or light switch--a bomb
detonates somewhere in his city. He ignores the destruction he is
causing and continues his life as normal. (The title and all the
credits were in untranslated Cyrillic, so the title is more descriptive
than accurate.) (VG)
- "World Problems" (miscellaneous; miscellaneous; 6:00): Sponsored by
American and European MTV. Several international animators do small
blackout sketches on the subject of world problems and their solutions.
Most popular was about a boy, uncertain if he should recycle paper,
being threatened by a militant tree. (?)
- "Green Beret" (Stephen Hillenburg; USA; 3:19): A man's house is
besieged by a different kind of Green Beret: a cookie-selling Girl
Scout. Some of the images are quite funny. (G)
- "Weeds" (Thomas Stellmach; Germany; 4:22): In a vast plane tiled over
by stone a snail and some plants survive on the last square not yet
tiled. Can the snail survive against man's machinery? (G)
- "Fantastic Person" (Candy Guard; Great Britain; 3:32): Candy Guard's
work is so consistent, there is very little need to see more than one
of her animation pieces. Her characters are disenfranchised English
women. The title character is currently out of work, but has great
plans for the future. She just cannot work up the motivation to get
started. (G)
- "The Tale of Nippoless Nippleby" (Keith Alcorn, Paul Claerhout, John
Davis; USA; 4:00): This is a variation of the "Ugly Duckling." It is a
bit off-color and droll, but it makes its point. (VG)
- "Office Space" (Mike Judge; USA; 1:57): A very short piece about the
office nerd upset about the way he is treated and with dreams of
quitting. (G)
(Next come three pieces intended as tributes to Tex Avery.)
- "Unsavory Avery" (John Schnall; USA; 2:19): A wolf-like night club
singer is obviously considered incredibly sexy by the women in the
audience. However, he is not the good catch he appears. While some of
the visual gags are borrowed from the Avery cartoons, the art is
considerably simpler. I would say the story is not as good as an Avery
story either. (G)
- "RRRINGG!" (Paul de Nooijer; The Netherlands; 2:50): Even further from
Avery's style, posed with live-action figures (like people) rather than
with sketches. I am not really a fan of de Nooijer's animation from
previous fests. Again, there are some visual gags borrowed from Avery.
(G)
- "Pre-Hysterical Daze" (Gavrilo Gnatovich; USA; 7:23): The best of the
three Avery tributes is a caveman being chased by dinosaurs (after a
disclaimer saying that the two were not contemporary). There is some
fun with the medium. (VG)
- "The Boss" (Alison Snowden, David Fine; UK; 1:32): Ninety-two seconds
done by IBM show there are creative ways to solve a problem. This is
just a little piece about how someone who liked his job but not his
boss got out of his dilemma. Perhaps the fellow the "Office Space"
should see this one. (G)
- "The Hunter" (Mikhail Aldashin; USSR; 4:18): Entertaining but not very
engaging story of a primitive hunter going after big game. Various
absurd ploys of camouflage are used. (G)
- "Quinoscopio" (Juan Padron/Quino; Cuba; 4:40): This is a Cuban film
with a series of blackout-style jokes. None are really hilarious, but
many are reasonably witty. (VG)
Overall, this was a very mediocre film festival. If the British
Animation Explosion comes your way, that is still the most recommended
Festival of Animation in recent memory.
Mark R. Leeper
att!mtgzy!leeper
lee...@mtgzy.att.com
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper