Bill’s Dirty Shorts: A Collection of Bill Plympton’s Naughty Cartoons 2006
Distributed by Microcinema International/Microcinema DVD, 1636 Bush St., Suite #2, SF, CA 94109; 415-447-9750
Produced by Bill Plympton
Directed by Bill Plympton
DVD, color, 83 min.
Sr. High - Adult
Animation, Film Studies, Humor
Date Entered: 10/27/2006
Reviewed by Christopher Dunham, Fairfield University, Fairfield, CTOne of the most well-known American animators outside the large studios, Bill Plympton’s animation style is rough, jumpy, and hard to watch for long periods of time. Style aside, the stories presented here are also hard to watch, for any period of time. There was little humor and almost no redeeming value. Cleverly and aptly named, the collection will likely be offensive to many viewers at some point in the 83 minutes of material, including 9 shorts, 11 television pieces (mostly commercials), and 30 Flash animations (plus two additional Flash titles not accessible from the DVD menu). The filmmaker’s commentary track (accessible only from the DVD player’s remote control, not from the DVD’s menu) was poorly done, with ambient noise (repeatedly shuffled notes, a drawer closing, and an emergency siren in the background) distracting from the unenthusiastic drone of Plympton’s voice.