The Tune

Del is a songwriter for Mr. Mega, and he's trying to write a song his boss will accept. He has a tune, but can't find the words. With a deadline facing him, and anxious to make good so he can marry the boss's secretary Didi, he gets into his car to drive to Mega Corp, but an impossibly complicated cloverleaf sends him on a journey past seemingly hundreds of people performing in a variety of pop styles, from tango to beach movie music, while environment and characters go through transformations.

Enjoying Plympton's cartoons means enjoying his surreal transformations, like Melies' work, but elastic to the point of.... well, cartoonishness. The best sequence is one without any sound, in which two men torment each other like characters in a Laurel & Hardy short as it might have been animated by Teniel. I don't think there's any real point to this movie; Del's quest for a song is an excuse to enjoy these extended gag sequences, and I enjoyed them very much.

Celebrated cartoonist Bill Plympton's first feature film is a surreal musical fantasy with some inspired animation. He financed it entirely by himself, raising extra money by doing work for a few television commercials (see "Plymptoons: Complete Works" on DVD). He also released early portions of the film as shorts to help generate funds ("Dig My Do" in 1990, "Push Comes To Shove" and "The Wiseman" in 1991), even winning the 1991 Prix du Jury at the Cannes Film Festival for "Push Comes To Shove." Working again with Maureen McElheron (she scored his 1988 Oscar-nominated short "Your Face"), Plympton pieces together the story of a songwriter who, after receiving a 47-minute deadline to deliver a hit song or get fired, finds himself lost in the town of Flooby Nooby. Through the course of ten musical numbers (touching on various popular music genres) and some outstanding animation sequences, he learns to pen songs from the heart rather than by the book. This film is classic Plympton, but the light-hearted theme and often silly songs contrast greatly with the bizarre sex and violence of his second feature-length film "I Married A Strange Person."

The original songs for this movie are amazing, but not nearly as amazing as Plympton's animation. Well worth shutting yourself in to watch, perhaps with other examples of excellence in feature length, independent animation. This ranks with the work of Bakshi, and it's worth supporting animators who don't work for Disney, simply for the fact that their work is not homogenized or dictated by the studio. Plympton gave us this twelve years ago, and we haven't had many animators of note since who could give us a quality product like his. It begs the question, "why not?" I think this film is a must-see for any aspiring animator, to show them that it can be done, and done well.

The Tune is an animated musical made by Oscar winning animator Bill Plympton (Your Face) who also did every single drawing in this feature. A first for animated movies. With Bill Plympton's drawings and music by the talented Maureen McElheron, The Tune becomes a unique classic. The story follows songwriter Dell on a journey to write a song so he could live happily ever after with the girl of his dreams, Didi, also played by Maureen McEhleron. He travels through the wonderous place of Floobynooby and learns to write songs with his heart, and not his pancreas. Drawn solely in a style that looks like colored pencil, the look of the film tends to be uneven, but Bill Plympton's style itself is so unique and invitingly strange that one tends to ignore the style shift as each song in the story is presented with a unique look. The music is in this movie is what really makes the film. Mauren McElheron juggles so many styles that it's hard to believe that she's the sole composer. We go from Old Broadway to Country, to 60's Beach Rock. We even get some Rhythm and Blues and a Tango Piece. The music in The Tune really celebrates the old American Classics. The Tune really suffers during some long drawn out sequences and songs that do garner laughs, but many might seem to think that they detract from the story. (Namely a scene with a wise man and another scene with two business men inflicting torture upon each other's faces.) Still, even with these scenes, it's very easy for me to recommend a viewing of this film.

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this movie kind of sucked. the songs were kind of generic and weren't catchy at all. while i'll admit that it did have some pretty cool animation, i thought the movie itself was pretty dumb.