And then there's "Rabbit," which easily made the biggest impact on me, in a haunting and slightly disturbed way. Stylistically, it takes its cue from those old "See Dick Run" type of early-reader books, with a watercolor painted feel and simple designs. All the objects in the film are labelled with their name ("Tree," "Rabbit," "Bed") just like in books for early readers.
The "story" such as it is travels down a truly twisted path, involving a small genie that is able to transform insects into diamonds and two nasty children who pay a steep price for their greed. There's an intriguing friction between the visual cues and style, and the behaviors in the story; I wouldn't call it thought-provoking necessarily since it's not as though it encourages the viewer to reconsider the role of diamonds and genies in the lives of children, but it's the kind of art that lingers in the mind long after its completion.
You've got shorts like those, with easily defined characters and stories, and then you have material like "Collision," which is more of a visual poem than anything else; it's simply brightly-colored stars and triangles collapsing into one another and expanding outward in an endless pattern. In total, it's a wide survey of what's happening in animation today on perhaps the art form's most creative level--amongst independent artists and students.
There's a nice selection of extras on The Animation Show Volume 3, including animator interviews and early animatic drafts of some of the shorts. That's one advantage the DVD release of The Animation Show will always have over the theater presentation--when you watch The Animation Show on DVD, you get the extras too.
In its best moments, The Animation Show's third collection invites the viewer to abandon preconceived notions about what animated films can do and provides some challenging entertainment. You have to be up for that challenge; it's not easy at times, as these are not always meant to be simple accessible films. Yet if being challenged by your entertainment sounds like your idea of a good time, The Animation Show Volume 3 is a rewarding experience, and one small step toward reclaiming the art of animation from those damn talking animals.
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