'Animation Show' highlights the classic and contemporary
Hertzfeldt's trademark talking blobs — puff-shaped creatures with stick arms and legs, and happy triangles for mouths — introduce the collection, promising "the greatest animation show ever created by human beings." Puffery from puffs, I guess, but what unfolds is an unusually diverse selection of classic and contemporary animation.
History is represented by an excerpt from Ward Kimball's made-for-television science short "Mars and Beyond," a wildly surreal blending of traditional animation and photography. (Kimball, a legendary Disney animator, died last year at the age of 86.) And brand-new works surface as well, with Hertzfeldt's three new films for the collection ("Welcome to the Show," "Intermission in the Third Dimension" and "The End of the Show") and Bill Plympton's newest short, "Parking," an enjoyably over-the-top duel between a parking-lot attendant and a determined blade of grass.
Some of the films are fascinating in what they foreshadow. In Tim Burton's delicious Goth poem "Vincent," made in 1982 and narrated by Vincent Price, you can see shadows of "Edward Scissorhands," "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and other works, not to mention a healthy dollop of Edward Gorey influence.
Judge's contribution is some animation experiments from the early 1990s, including the short that would eventually inspire the 1999 movie "Office Space." Dweeby Milton, his voice emanating from somewhere within his nose, bewails his poor treatment by office management, as his slippery-voiced boss appears and proceeds to "go ahead and take" his prized Swingline stapler.
Other offerings include several recent Oscar nominees, among which "Mt. Head," from Japanese director Koji Yamamura, is a standout. A sprout growing on a moon-faced man's head eventually becomes a community in this elegantly drawn fairy tale, depicted in delicate shades of brown. In Georges Schwizgebel's "La Course a l'Abime," you can see the vibrant brushstrokes of the artist, and the images eventually burst into multiple frames, as if one wasn't enough to hold its energy.
A few missteps occur, as in any mixed bag. Three Claymation shorts featuring a blathering kid named Ricardo (pronounced "Wicardo") were just annoying, and Richard Goleszowski's "Ident," though wildly inventive, seemed to collapse under the weight of too many ideas. But "The Animation Show" should attract many fans of its genre — and maybe even create a few new ones.
Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com
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