Animated shorts generally receive little or no theatrical play in American movie theaters. Recognizing the need to fill the void and give these short masterpieces the exposure they deserve, animators Mike Judge (Beavis and Butt-Head, King of the Hill) and Don Hertzfeldt (Rejected) hand-picked an assortment of animated shorts — Academy Award nominees and film fest winners from around the world — and in 2003, launched a national tour of the films, The Animation Show. Now in its third year, this traveling film fest brings the feature-length compilation of animated shorts to audiences across the country. The show opens in Tampa beginning this Friday and highlights include the five-minute computer-animated Overtime, a tribute to Muppets creator Jim Henson about a troupe of creepy-cute Kermit-like puppets and the ways they come to grips with their creator's death; Rabbit, in which 2D animation, CG and 1950s educational stickers are used to weave a story about two children who find a dancing, jewel-spitting idol in the stomach of a rabbit; and Game Over, a stop-motion animation homage to classic arcade games like Centipede, Frogger, Asteroids, Space Invaders and Pac-Man. April 27-May 3, 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. Fri., 3 p.m., 5:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sun., and 7:30 p.m. Mon., Wed. and Thurs., Tampa Theatre, 711 N. Franklin St., downtown Tampa, $8.50 adults/$6.50 students, seniors and military, 813-274-8981, tampatheatre.org.
This article appears in Apr 25 – May 1, 2007.