Mutant Aliens

To call Bill Plympton an “auteur” almost understates the case. An original talent if ever there was one, Plympton applies his, ah, very unique (read: perverse) animation style to this macabre tale of an astronaut named Jensen who, despite having been sabotaged by his superior, eventually returns to Earth…with several alien buddies in tow, with whom he wreaks revenge during a welcome ceremony (just for starters, one of the aliens chows down on a female TV reporter á la the hapless guy in Jurassic Park). The limited-movement, pencil-sketch-with-color style works fine in spite of its quaint approach in the shiny digital age, but Plympton's darkly humorous tone, mixed with rather explicitly sexual and often violent content, is taken to even greater extremes than usual here. One funny scene with a space-program official making out with a missile is priceless but, like a lot of the stuff here, it's not for middlebrow tastes. And it's certainly not for kiddies. A strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD extras include a director's commentary, behind-the-scenes footage, and an alien mutations game. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a decidedly offbeat film.] (T. Rich)