Cheatin'

Cheatin' is a bit bizarre, but entertaining nonetheless. It's an animated narrative film that tells the troubled love story of Ella and Jake, which has no dialogue, just grunts and squeals from the animated characters. The two meet at the fair while Jake is on a date with some other broad. As Ella gets crashed into too many times in the bumper car rink, she suffers a crash and almost dies from electrocution. Luckily, Jake is there to save her, and the two are love struck with each other (WARNING: There's a lot of softcore cartoon sex in this movie). Things seem to be going swimmingly, but Jake is just too much of a hunk—he has women throwing themselves (and their clothes) at him left and right. One especially sadistic, redheaded woman leads Ella into a changing room full of male mannequins while she tries on clothes, and snaps a photo of her to make it seem like she was getting a bukkake sesh. The conniving woman drops by the gas station at which Jake works, flirts with him (to the chagrin of her meathead husband), and slips him the photo, which sends him into tears and a mania to get back at Ella … by having sex with everyone woman with a vagina. Once Ella discovers a number in his work shirt, she, too, is bent on revenge. She first tries to put a hit on Jake with the sadistic redhead's husband, but when that falls through, she meets a magician of sorts, who can transfer her into other women's body's and spoil Jake's cheating exploits. Will the two come to terms and understand root of all these unfortunate mistakes? Cheatin' is great for one run though, though it isn't especially riveting. The animation is a great blend of colored-pencil-looking techniques reminiscent of the backdrops of Hey Arnold! (except the characters are animated that way, too), and the characters' bodies get comedically blown out of proportion to add a dash of cartoonish flair. These animation aspects keep the movie's engine running, but it feels too long and would have been more efficient as a short.

Director/animator Bill Plympton became famous for his detailed, surreal colored pencil animations that became something of a trademark, but his feature-length films have bounced between different processes and styles, and have, at times, lost some of the impressionistic charm of his shorts and early work. For his last feature, Idiots & Angels, he combined pencil-drawn frames with digital coloring, and in so doing managed to preserve the beautiful sketchy style that he's best known for.

Cheatin' continues Bill's tradition of experimentation and evolution, with some truly stunning results. While it seems to use a similar technical process to Idiots & Angels, it's about as far from that film's dingy noir as you can get. Every frame of Cheatin' is filled with vibrant colors, for a pastel watercolor look. Long, exaggerated shadows dance across scenes that always seem to take place at dawn or sunset. The character designs themselves are likewise a bit of a departure, with exaggerated anatomy that borders on grotesque. Whether by virtue of new technology, or just experience, this seems to be Bill's most fluid animation to date, as well. It certainly doesn't approach the liquid-smooth 24 frames per second of Disney animation, it's the closest Bill has ever come.

Cheatin' also provides further evidence that Plympton has matured -- and yes, perhaps mellowed -- in recent years. While not without its surreal twists and turns, Cheatin' is more grounded in reality and has a stronger human component that any of Plympton's earlier films. We're introduced to Ella, a beautiful woman who has closed her heart, preferring the solitude of books to the company of others. When the muscular, handsome Jake rescues her from a perilous bumper car accident, she opens her heart at last and falls madly in love. The two marry and move in together, but others jealous of their love seek to tear them apart, beginning a spiral of self-destruction, infidelity, and revenge.

This story is told visually, without any dialog, but it seems less concerned with the sight gags and slapstick violence that drive Bill's earlier works. The net result is a movie that seems more focused on its story, if perhaps not as laugh out loud funny. Some might see this as a toning down, but it's equally apparent that this is still not a movie for kids. There may not be as much blood and guts, but there's still plenty of sex and adult themes.

It's great to see someone as established as Bill moving out of his comfort zone and exploring new territory, both artistically, thematically, and technically, and the result is one of his strongest works yet.

If you have ever watched any of Plympton's shorts you already know that his animation has a distinctive look (hand-painted, pencil-colored, with a predominance of soft and pastels hues), a constant presence of a witty philosophical look at the world, and a strong surreal and whimsical imprint.

Cheatin' tells the story of a romance, from infatuation to real love, marriage, daily expressions of love, jealousy, cheating, and reconciliation with a great insight into the world of romantic love and the intricacies of human relationships, without the need of a word being uttered. Most people with a heart will relate to the way romantic emotions, positive and negative, are depicted in the film, and will like or at least be surprised at finding Plympton's whimsical surreal humorous elements presented in such an approachable and meaningful way.

The film has a strong presence of Opera arias, the lyrics being intrinsically linked to what is being told in the story. So, in a way, this is a modern operetta that pays a homage to the reality of love, that starts as a fantasy and projection onto the other and evolves in ways of relating that aren't always functional or what one expected beforehand.

Cheatin' is a great animated film on all fronts. Plympton's trademark animation and insightful eye are still there, but the narrative and story are very approachable for the general public. I loved the film, didn't find it boring at all.Yet, the movie would have been as good even if it had been 15-20 minutes shorter.

The movie has explicit sex scenes, so not a film for children.

Slow, hollow, melodramatic and pretentious. The only redeeming qualities Cheatin' 2013 had is the unique art style and animation. At times it felt like an animation show reel instead of an actual telling of a decent story.

Sometimes the art style and acting doesn't fit well with the tone. The exaggerated and flippant animated scenes didn't help either. Felt very amateurish

Everything stops making sense at the end. It will leave you telling yourself 'oh okay that's happening'

I have to mention that it isn't all bad. There are scenes that I can't imagine being any better.

After a chance encounter involving bumper cars, Ella, a woman normally engrossed in books, and Jake, a muscular gas station attendant, have sparks fly literally and fall in love. However a misunderstanding engineered by a jealous women creates a rift between the two and Jake starts cheatin'. That is the gist of the story without too much elaboration and no spoilers.

This tale is very beautifully and poetically told with no actual spoken words and portrays the highs and lows of relationships with great depth and much humor. It is not a children's cartoon in either what it shows visually or its themes - that is, it is about things that concern adults, and it is not just about sex.

The pacing is about the best of all the Plympton feature films and the story is quite coherent. The only problem it has, like most of his features, is feeling a bit stretchy about three quarters in but not intolerably so.

There are many rewards to reap from viewing this film, both visually and emotionally and it gets to the heart of the complexity of relationships better than many live action movies. If it weren't for the pacing issues on the last quarter of the film (which aren't as bad as I'm making them sound) I'd give this film a 9 or a 10.