The Animation Show

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By L. KENT WOLGAMOTT / GZO

The first time “Yompi the Crotch Biting Sloup” turns up on screen, it’s clear that year four of “The Animation Show” really isn’t for kids.

That shouldn’t come as a surprise, given the fact that the 20-odd short films were selected by Mike Judge, the creator of “Beavis and Butthead” and “King of the Hill.” Judge went looking for comedy from around the world for the annual compilation of animation and he found plenty of it — and plenty of that is raunchy.

"Yompi the Crotch Biting Sloup," for example, turns up a couple of times. Yompi’s a Mr. Bill-like claymation creation, only it is vicious, not a victim.

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"This Way Up" is one of the 20-some shorts compiled by Mike Judge as part of "The Animation Show." (Courtesy photo)

"This Way Up" is one of the 20-some shorts compiled by Mike Judge as part of "The Animation Show." (Courtesy photo)

One of the funniest pieces is a drawn, 2-D little ditty called “Angry Unpaid Hooker” in which a hapless guy gets caught — twice — with the crack-addled hooker he’s brought home. Once again, not exactly family fare. But the notion that animation is for kids only is one of the things Judge is clearly trying to dispel with this year’s show.

Also treading on the boundaries of excess is “Mr. Schwartz, Mr. Hazen & Mr. Horlocker,” a German traditional animation about a cop answering a loud party call that rewinds to reveal what’s really going on behind closed doors — a literal trip.

“Blind Spot” is darkly comic, a French computer animation about a granny who gets framed for a bloody convenience store stickup by a security camera, and a veteran American animator gets in the act with “Hot Dog,” in which his inept canine hero is a firefighter … and you can guess how he tries to put out the fire.

Even more offbeat is “Key Lime Pie,” a black and white film noirish flick about a guy with an obsession with key lime pie. It’s dark and scary and really dumb.

Not everything in “The Animation Show” is funny.

“Jeu,” a Swiss pencil animation, begins with geometric imagery that’s figurative, all of it moving to a piano concert by Sergei Prokofiev, and in “Forgetfulness” the imagery appears, then fades away like facts, quadratic equations and other information that has “floated away” from aging memory.

Some of the films are just strange, like the French computer-generated “Prof. Nieto Show” in which an odd professor and a room full of white-clad students observe bugs with strange behavior and the chimp that eats them. I’m still not quite sure what to make of that one.

Like all such compilations, “The Animation Show” is hit and miss. There’s likely no way anyone will like every one of the selections. For example, I found the technically impressive French computer piece “Raymond” utterly uninvolving. But it was over in a little more than five minutes, and then it was on to the next one.

That variety is what makes “The Animation Show” an annual draw, and those who like their humor dark, raunchy and slapstick violent will really enjoy Judge’s selections this year. Disney this isn’t, and that’s a very good thing.

Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.