NFB's Animation Express Blu-Ray Review
Award-Winning Shorts from The National Film Board of Canada
Oct 29, 2009
Love it or hate it, few can deny that the National Film Board of Canada is one of the great powerhouses of animation. Over its 70-year history, the NFB has won over 500 awards, and nurtured such internationally recognized talents as Norman McLaren, Cordell Barker, Ryan Larkin, Richard Condie and Chris Landreth.
Now, in association with Mongrel Media, the NFB has packaged 39 of their most recent shorts into Animation Express, a collection that ricochets from the hilarious to the impenetrable, the sublime to the sublimely ridiculous.
Chris Landreth, Janet Perlman, Cordell Barker, Claude Cloutier Cartoon Shorts In NFB/Mongrel Media's Animation Express Blu-Ray
The blurb on the box says the shorts in this set have won "187 International Prizes." Considering what's on offer here, that's no idle boast. Whether it's comedy ('Pimp My Boat,' 'Sleeping Betty,' 'Runaway'), drama ('The Spine,' 'Ryan,' 'Vive la Rose'), surrealist nightmare ('Madame Tutli-Putli') or abstract experimentalism ('Drux Flux'), Animation Express features the most prominent work the NFB has done in recent years.
That said, you shouldn't try watching all these shorts in one sitting, unless you're partial to sensory overload. It's best if you leave the disk in your machine, and sample maybe one or two a day over a period of several weeks.
Highlights? How about 'Pimp My Boat," a hilarious New Brunswick send-up of Xzibit's MTV reality show? Or Bruce Alcock's haunting 'Vive la Rose' featuring Émile Benoit's interpretation of the classic folk song? What about Claude Cloutier's 'Sleeping Betty,' with gags that should give the Pixar gang some sleepless nights? Don't forget 'Runaway,' Cordell ('The Cat Came Back') Barker's triumphant return to animation.
And then there's Chris Landreth's Oscar winning short 'Ryan,' with its dark, surreal imagery and evocation of a brilliant talent wasted by trauma and addiction.
Speaking of Ryan Larkin, this collection also includes 'Spare Change,' the short started by Larkin and finished by his co-director Laurie Gordon. Temper tantrums aside, this final short from the animation legend still feels disconnected from its first half when it abruptly switches to a psychedelic music video for CHIWAWA's song "Do It For Me" (note: Gordon is the group's lead vocalist).
Whether this was Larkin's intention all along, or something Gordon did after Larkin's 2007 death, the fact remains that this shift sends what could have been a brilliant short straight into mediocrity.
Blu-Ray Extras
"Spam, spam, spam, spam. Spam, spam, spam, spam . . ."
The Final Analysis
If you're a fan of NFB animation (and who isn't?), then Animation Express is a no-brainer. It gets a 9/10.
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