Customer Reviews

The Animation Show (Vol. 1 & 2 Boxed Set)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Very pleased with this set. In an age where you can quite easily pay $20 for a new, single-disc release of most movies, which come with no insert other than a one-sheet "Buy more DVDs from this company"...it's refreshing to pay less than $20 for two well-made discs and a very nice, informative booklet. As a fan of Hertzfeldt, Plympton and Judge, I bought this on the strength of them, but am finding a lot more that I like on here as well. Can't wait to catch the road show when it comes to the my area.

Word of warning, most people who come to this page will already know but, some of these cartoons are rather strange. Just be forewarned, if you try to put this on in mixed company, or for people who aren't really into animation other than Family Guy and The Simpsons, I doubt they will run screaming - but they're probably going to give you some strange looks. That's one of the reasons I love them - but, it might not be a lot of people's cup of tea.

And like JONG said, for 67 cents a short, you really can't beat giving it a shot.

Somehow or another my local Target store was selling copies of this dvd about 10 days before it is supposed to be released. So....lucky me. For animation fans of whatever variety, this is a great little collection. "Mike Judge and Don Hertzfeldt have scoured the globe to bring you thirty amazing animated films", and how! This collection includes a smorgasboard of animation, including traditional animation, rotoscoping, clay animation, stop-motion, 3d animation, experimental, and probably more than a few hybrids. If you are a fan of "Beavis and Butt-head" (or just a fan of Mike Judge in general), this collection contains several early animations and experimentations, somewhat revealing the evolution of the style behind "B & B". Although, it may be said that you can probably view the majority (if not all) of these animations on-line, there is something invaluable about having them all in your hand contained within an attractively designed box set, which also contains an informative booklet profiling the artists behind the contained animations. All for under $20 (which comes out to about 67 cents per animation). Not too shabby.

For those of you who are looking for specifics on this DVD set, here are the titles, directors, running times, and release dates.

VOLUME 1----
WELCOME TO THE SHOW (Hertzfeldt - 3:00 - 2003)
MT. HEAD (ATAMA YAMA) (Yamamura - 10:00 - 2002) - Acad. Awd. Nominee
BROTHER (Elliot - 7:50 - 2000)
PARKING (Plympton - 5:16 - 2002)
THE ADVENTURES OF RICARDO (Quakenbush - 1996)
MOVING ILLUSTRATIONS OF MACHINES (Solterbeck - 9:30 - 2000)
LA COURSE A L'ABIME (THE RIDE TO THE ABYSS) (Schwizgebel - 5:16 - 1992)
BILLY's BALLOON (Hertzfeldt - 5:22 - 1998)
COUSIN (Elliot - 4:40 - 1998)
THE CATHEDRAL (KATEDRA) (Dukaj - 6:30 - 2002)
INTERMISSION IN THE THIRD DIMENSION (Hertzfeldt - 3:00 - 2003)
50 PERCENT GREY (Robinson - 2:46 - 2001)
UNCLE (Elliot - 6:08 - 1997)
EARLY PENCILS AND OTHER EXPERIMENTS BY MIKE JUDGE (Judge - 5:00 - early 1990s)
BATHTIME IN CLERKENWELL (Budovsky - 3:15 - 2002)


VOLUME 2----
BUNNIES (Studio Soi - 30 sec. - 2002)
GUARD DOG (Plympton - 4:41 - 2004)
THE F.E.D.S. (Drummond - 6:20 - 2002)
PAN WITH US (Russo - 4:00 - 2003)
WARD 13 - (Cornwell - 14:50 - 2003)
HELLO (Nix - 6:30 - 2003)
ROCKFISH (Miller - 8:58 - 2003)
MAGDA (White - 5:30 - 2004)
FALLEN ART (Baginski - 5:50 - 2004) - Acad. Awd. Nominee
WHEN THE DAY BREAKS (Forbis, Tilby - 9:35 - 1999)
FIREWORKS (PES - 39 sec. - 2004)
THE MEANING OF LIFE (Hertzfeldt - 12:00 - 2005)

I had been wanting to own The Animation Show (vol. 1) ever since my local video store had their copy stolen. I had rented it probably 4 or 5 times. I was ecstatic when I finally found a copy and it came with both volumes! Volume one is hilarious! The cotton-balls (or whatever they are) are so bizarre and they show up a couple of times during the course of the show to teach us the definition of animation and such. Volume two doesn't have these characters, which I thought was a little sad, but the other animations were so good it didn't matter. Both volumes really have a good mix of humor, drama, and art.

My kids and I used to love to watch animation in the nineties. The National Film Board of Canada, the Mind's Eye series, Disney, early Pixar, Miramar--all vhs, of course. We've replaced some of it, but not all so it's nice to keep moving with collections like the Animation Show. We're all older now and I never worry about appropriateness like I used to. Because animation is a wide open field and there are possible weirdnesses you may feel the need to preview the selections. I have several favorites: Cathedral, Bathtime in Clerkenwell, Rockfish, Plymton's Parking, and Guard Dog, Aria, Das Rad. Special mention for La Course A L'Abime 1992--that's some superb thinking there. Adam Elliot's pieces Uncle, Cousin, and Brother have hilarious looks at real life situations--thankfully, on the screen. Pan With Us certainly looks like a lot of work--all of these border on deep art--amazing visuals and accompanying musics. Fascinating, touching, and possibly confrontational in character. All without going to the theater or art gallery. Moving Illustrations of Machines is the kind of work I'd like to see more of, but this Show is about a variety of animations and even if there's one or two that are hard to sit through there's always a payoff.

The full list of all the films on these would be great to know before buying. The Animation Show's company website only has broken links. Could someone who has already bought it tell those of us who want to know?

This collection is a lot of fun and I am looking forward to watching it again with friends. No, not every bit in here is a jem of timeless brilliance, but a broad range of animation styles are represented, and I wish there were more collections like this out there.

The second disk I would say is the stronger of the two, with some pieces that REALLY pulled me in... "Mt. Head" for one. There are a few weak pieces that go on too long, and don't make the payoff worth the five or so minutes... but overall, definitely worth the ride.

The supplemental insert is very informative with animation techniques and insights from the creators. As an animator, I found this particularly valuable.

I am in full agreement with the descriptions given by several of the reviewers who rated this collection so poorly; where my opinion differs, however, is that I find all those points to be excellent reasons to buy and enjoy this collection.

If you're not afraid to admit that you have both a strong sense of dark humor and still retain your childlike sense of wonder, you will very likely enjoy the shorts in this set. Some of the shorts are very though-provoking and beautiful, and others are simply absurd. The constant that ties every piece together is an attempt to push boundaries and get people to look at animation in a different way, be it in pencil sketch or in high quality stop motion (an underrepresented art!).

Don't let a couple negative reviews scare you off: this is a thoroughly enjoyable set with lots of replay value.

I watched Bevis and Butthead on dvd and the preview to this show would always play. A beautiful song mixed with vivid, bright animation and it really sold the set for me. Too bad the animation shorts on this set are not as good as the preview. Ive only seen a few of them that are worth watching more then once. An alright set but nothing exciting, like the preview was.

This DVD is easy to misunderstand. It is not designed to be like other mainstream cartoon shorts. However, Hertzfeldt and Judge have made incredible, thought-provoking choices for those who are willing to view with an open mind. Some of the shorts are not the best, but the majority of them are interesting, deep, and substantial, touching on some of the most fascinating aspects of philosophy and life. Make sure you are watching it with friends who you know will get the beauty of this set, because it really isn't for everyone.