The Tune

Stars: (voices) Daniel Neiden, Maureen McElheron, Marv Nelson. Noted animator Bill Plympton, whose short films have been the hit of many a film festival, and whose offbeat humor has been a natural for MTV, tackles the near impossible in The Tune--a full-length animated feature film drawn completely by Plympton himself. Unfortunately, the achievement outweighs the actual result. The story introduces Del, an aspiring songwriter who's given one hour to come up with a hit tune by his demanding boss Mr. Mega. A panicking Del hits the road and runs into the musically happening town of Flooby Nooby. Here, Del is exposed to one cleverly written infectious tune after another until he's brimful of good songs to take to Mr. Mega. Storywise, The Tune is something of a wash. The songs introduce characters who appear once and are never seen again. And Del's wanderings within Flooby Nooby are dictated by the demands of the songs, rather than any sense of building narrative. Still, there are a number of wonderful moments in The Tune--a great tango sequence, a patently absurd fight between two men, and a nice takeoff on Elvis using a real hound dog. There's a Plympton short ("Draw") included at the beginning of the video, and "The Making of the Tune," a brief documentary at the close. The documentary footage is taken from Anthony Arcidi's longer documentary Twisted Toons. Audience: Animation fans for sure, and older teens would probably appreciate this. The music is truly fun to listen to. (R. Pitman)[DVD Review--July 27, 2004--New Video, 72 min., not rated, $26.95--Making its second appearance on DVD, 1992's The Tune sports a very good transfer and solid Dolby Digital stereo sound, as well as an excellent array of extras that include a fine commentary track by Plympton and composer Maureen McElheron, the 57-minute standalone documentary on Plympton Twisted Toons (VL-5/93), photo galleries (on Plympton and storyboards for The Tune), and a trailer for the director's latest, Hair High. Bottom line: an excellent, value-added extras package for an interesting, if somewhat unfocused film.]