Mutant Aliens

Rating:
Summary: The Nose Queen and the Flying Carp...
Review: ....whoa. Is this man (Plympton) high or what? You're not going to believe your eyes in this stop action illustrated cartoon by wild animator Bill Plympton. I caught this one night on Sundance Independent. I thought I was seeing things as the story of an astronaut returning from the outer cosmos unfolded. He comes off as being an oversexed, vengeful madman whose relationship with his daughter seems rather perverse. The aliens were spawn by irradiating embryos in the gamma nethers of outer space. The astronaut teaches them to hate the square jawed, buzz cut military/corporate honcho who apparently lead him wrongly into this space project. Amongst the mutated aliens is a long legged frog creature, an impaling pig, the aforementioned flying carp and a cute whatsis--whose adorable, cute eyes will seduce you so's it can get close enough to consume you whole. Leaving a block of gelatinous remains as waste. Anyway, the astronaut, his daughter and her man and these aliens wreak a bloody violent havoc as they try to get to The Man. See why I had to put it in my Listmania List "Wild Cartoons." Sundance also shows many of the Plympton shorts which are equally as wild.

Rating:
Summary: Lame story
Review: Bill Plympton is a great animator whose brilliant imagination is seen at its best in the Plymptoons video/DVD, a collection of many of his short pieces through the years. But when he tries his hand at a feature length film--past efforts include The Tune and I Married a Strange Person--he's only intermittently successful. Plot is not his strong suit; bizarre transformations and visual satire are.

So here we have another feature length Plympton work. The Tune actually did work, thanks to the nimble songwriting talents of Plympton's musical partner Maureen McElheron. But Ms. McElheron is not in evidence for Mutant Aliens and so the writer-director has a bunch of wacko looking human goofballs who--right, you guessed it--change shape to become the aliens they really are. In the process of getting to this point, lots of strange sex and violence is proffered, none of which adds up to much in terms of telling any real story.

The three stars are for Plympton's astounding visual imagination and occasionally sharp sense of humor. But look elsewhere for an animated film that actually has real substance.

Rating:
Summary: Master of the short form...get the picture?
Review: Bill Plympton is a great animator whose brilliant imagination is seen at its best in the Plymptoons video/DVD, a collection of many of his short pieces through the years. But when he tries his hand at a feature length film--past efforts include The Tune and I Married a Strange Person--he's only intermittently successful. Plot is not his strong suit; bizarre transformations and visual satire are.

So here we have another feature length Plympton work. The Tune actually did work, thanks to the nimble songwriting talents of Plympton's musical partner Maureen McElheron. But Ms. McElheron is not in evidence for Mutant Aliens and so the writer-director has a bunch of wacko looking human goofballs who--right, you guessed it--change shape to become the aliens they really are. In the process of getting to this point, lots of strange sex and violence is proffered, none of which adds up to much in terms of telling any real story.

The three stars are for Plympton's astounding visual imagination and occasionally sharp sense of humor. But look elsewhere for an animated film that actually has real substance.

Rating:
Summary: Lame story
Review: Lame story, a good look at historical animation. This animation is how guys did it WAaaaaaaaaaay back when. Old style. Too bad Plympton was never able to progress his style or his writing abilities.