For many years, the art of animation has been scoffed at, defined as being a medium for children or for cheap humor. In general, animation has been reserved for kids' television programming and commercial advertisements.
This was pretty much the universal belief until 2003, the first year of the "Animation Show."
Famous animators Mike Judge ("Beavis and Butthead," "King of the Hill") and the Oscar-nominated Don Hertzfeldt ("Rejected," "The Meaning of Life") came together with a team of producers to create a touring festival of the world's best animation.
A second tour with new animated shorts followed in 2005, and again in 2007. And now it is time for number 4.
"The Animation Show Year 4" made its debut at the Ross on Friday, Aug. 29, and the laughter ensued.
This year's incarnation of the "Animation Show" is different from previous years in a few ways. The most marked difference is the fact that Hertzfeldt did not curate this year, leaving Judge to pick all the shorts himself. Since Judge and Hertzfeldt differ in many ways stylistically, this year's show is geared much more towards the comedy.
This is not a bad thing, though, as several of the short films are gut-busting hilarious. However, there is very little seriousness or high artistic flavor to this year's edition. This is a stark contrast to last year's show, which producer Robert May described as "a dozen shorts on death."
Hertzfeldt has always been serious about the art of animation, and Judge has always been keen on using crude comedy for the purpose of social commentary. When Hertzfeldt helped curate the "Animation Show," about half of the show was comprised of serious artistic pieces and half was slapstick comedy about war and politics. This was how the two animators did things.
But now, with only one perspective on the show, we get things like "Yompi the Crotch-Biting Sloop," a definite downside to this year's "Animation Show."
Not trying to sound overly pessimistic, though. There is plenty to love in "The Animation Show Year 4," including some serious bits.
Highlights of the show were "Hot Dog," the third installment in Bill Plympton's wonderful "Dog" series; "Mr. Schwartz, Mr. Hazen and Mr. Horlocker," a brilliantly entertaining piece about perspectives and alternate events; my personal favorite "Key Lime Pie," an absurdly noir piece that sticks to its dark influences while talking about something ridiculous; and "Western Spaghetti," another eye-popping, amazing piece of everyday life by the ultra-intuitive PES.
There are also a few good serious and artistic bits thrown in this year. "Operator" is a beautifully sublime piece about God. "Love Sport: Paintballing" takes the brutality and insanity of war, and makes it a beautiful thing to behold. "Forgetfulness" takes a beautiful poem by former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins and makes it something truly visual.
All things considered, there are really very few problems with "The Animation Show Year 4." The only vices I can find are the fact that there are three series of shorts in the show. There are three installments each of "Psychotown," "Yompi the Crotch-Biting Sloup" and "Usavich" in the show, which seems both a little excessive and a little lazy to me. The "Yompi" shorts are terrible. They are unentertaining, repetitive, predictable and crude in a way that just shouldn't fly in the "Animation Show." Plus, there are three of them. The "Psychotown" pieces play out like glorified YouTube sketches, and "Usavich," while entertaining and well done, just don't seem to possess enough zazz to merit three of them in one collection.
These few exceptions aside, "The Animation Show Year 4" is a brilliantly entertaining and artistic collection of some of the world's best imagination, and if you can put aside your preconceived notion that animation is just for kids and perverts, you would be well advised to give these shining shorts a shot.
caseywelsch@dailynebraskan.com
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