Tune (DVD)

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It´s not BAD, mind you—just overly ambitious, given the limitations of Plympton´s minimalist artistic style, nondescript characters, and weak plot. In 1987, Plympton´s "Your Face" was nominated for an Animated Short Oscar," and his oddball animation might work in short doses. But the pulsing shading and the morphing gets old after a while—after all, when it comes to that sort of acid-tripping thing, The Beatles did it better, and with more vibrant colors, complex backgrounds, and psychedelic leaps. Yet, The Beatles also did it with a full team of animators, storyboard artists, directors, and editors. Plympton did this essentially with composer Maureen McElheron, handling all the drawing and animation himself. It´s "mind-boggling" that a single man could pull off a full-length animated feature, Groening says, and you have to agree with him.

Video:
With an independent film, the stock is never as fine-grain as those used by the big studios, but the saving grace is that the rougher film stock is compatible with the primitive, sketch-like characters and objects that populate Plympton´s world.

Audio:
The audio is a simple Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0, which, given the lively Maureen McElheron score—an eclectic blend of jazz, blues, country, tango, and rock—is too bad. The music is one of the highlights, and it´s a shame there´s not more main speaker action.

Extras:
For an indie film, "The Tune" has an orchestra pit full of extras. Plympton and composer McElheron offer an excellent full-length commentary, and there´s also a 1993 documentary on "Bill Blympton: Twisted Toons," which has the same editing quality (though not the same sharpness and clarity) of big studio "making of" features. There are some nice surprises, with the wife of "Beanie and Cecil" animator Bob Clampett making an appearance, and "Simpsons" creator Groening on-camera talking about Plympton. The gem of this feature, though, is Plympton´s first animated short, a simple 1968 line-drawing production made to promote the Florida State University yearbook. There´s also an extensive "making of" storyboard gallery, along with a Plympton photo gallery, a "Hair High" trailer, filmmaker bios, and music tracks from "The Tune." Quite a nice package for Plympton fans.

Bottom Line:
People unfamiliar with Plympton´s work will watch this and think to themselves, "Very clever" or "Interesting," for the first half-hour, and go "Wow" later, when "Tango Schmango" really knocks your socks off. But because there´s no progression or significant variation in the animation (just more of the same), there´s no charismatic characters, and the plot is an excuse for the music, Plympton´s whacked-out style isn´t enough to sustain the average viewer´s interest for 72 minutes. Plymptonites of the fanatical sort will appreciate the whole film; the rest of us will savor only parts.

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