The Tune

Year: 1992
Country: United States
Director: Bill Plympton
Watched through: Netflix

The scenario: Songwriter Del is given 47 minutes to write a hit tune, or else. However, on his way to present his material, Del gets caught up in the surreal town of Flooby Nooby, where he learns some lessons about life and music. He then presents his songs to his boss and wins the girl of his dreams.

First impressions: This was both Bill Plympton’s first feature-length film and my first exposure to his work, but after seeing it, I’m not exactly eager to rush out and see his other stuff. First and foremost, the story is barely there, so what fills in the running time is lengthy and unfunny visual gags. In fact, these gags have so little to do with each other that the film seems like a slapdash collection of shorts, rather than a film with a single narrative.

Plot and story: I wish I could say that my “scenario” up there is just a bare-bones synopsis, but that is literally everything that happens. And yet, the film is more than an hour long. The barely-there story is padded with musical numbers and overlong visual gags; the former sometimes advance the plot, but the latter never do, and thus come off as a desperate attempt to extend the film’s running time. In the end, when the story is boiled down to its essential elements, it is surprisingly paint-by-numbers and isn’t the least bit interesting. 5/20

Characters: Again, due to the distractions of the pointless visual gags and elaborate transformation sequences that dominate the film’s running time, we spend very little time actually getting to know the characters, and they are barely more than one-dimensional. The only characters that get significant screen time are Del, his love interest, and his boss; they all go through some slight changes over the course of the plot, but are never made particularly relatable or even likeable. 8/20

Voices: No famous voices here, and I can’t say that the voices used manage to elevate the one-note characters. None of them are bad, however, so I’ll give them a middle of the road score. 10/20

Music: Without an interesting plot or developed characters, the musical numbers become the centerpiece of the film, and they are nothing if not surreal. The lyrics and subject matter are bizarre (one song is about a man without a nose), and each song is done in a different musical style, including blues, folk, country, and even surf rock. These songs work well on their own level, but they aren’t really strong enough to save the film and they aren’t catchy enough to make me want to listen to them again. 13/20

Visuals: Being an independent animator, Plympton can’t very well replicate the style of big-budget Hollywood animations; fortunately, he doesn’t try to. His films seem to be a study in economy, with only six to eight frames comprising every second of film (most animation uses at least twelve frames per second). He also makes careful use of still frames and repeated movements, presumably to save time. The simple, “sketchy” style of this film is reminiscent of a crayon drawing, as is the pastel color scheme, and the economized visuals serve as a reminder that cheaper animation doesn’t necessarily look worse than its big-budget counterparts. However, the creative animation in this film (particularly in the surreal transformations mentioned above) is posited as being dominant to the story, when the visuals aren’t actually strong enough to carry the entire film. Thus, while I can imagine that this film was a labor of love for everyone involved, it’s flawed enough that I can only recommend it with reservations. 13/20

Overall grade: 49/100 (C)