The Hungry Squid

The heroine of Oscar-winning National Film Board of Canada animator John Weldon's (Special Delivery) latest--The Hungry Squid, a paint software program enhanced puppet animated tour de force--is one Dorothy Sue Ann Murguson, whose unruly hair rebels in times of stress. As it turns out, Dorothy, whose mother is a bodybuilder and whose father is a food-additive salesman, has ample reason to be disturbed as the story opens. Fond of math ("since the answers were right or wrong, not just the teacher's opinion"), Dorothy is nevertheless the victim of a series of statistical improbabilities, which begin with a caterpillar eating her math homework, followed by a cat nibbling out all the negations in her ethics essay (making for a very twisted presentation), and subsequent "ate my homework" attacks by a hungry rabbit, dog, turtle, and--yes--squid. While the teacher routinely accepts Dorothy's classmates' lame (though hilarious) excuses for missing assignments, our poor lass is routinely sent to the guidance counselor's office where she is treated with weak tea, crystals, and "mild electroshock." I won't reveal the perfectly natural reason for Dorothy's popularity with the animal kingdom, but I will say this: kids and adults alike will find Weldon's (see also Frank the Wrabbit, VL-11/99) The Hungry Squid to be a wonderfully dark delight with more than a little wisdom at its whimsical core. Highly recommended. Aud: E, I, P. (R. Pitman)