The funniest shorts of all belong to the English. Both "The Wrong Trousers" (a one-time Oscar winner) and "Bob's Birthday" (this year's winner) owe much of their irresistability to their particular brand of British humor. These two films are well-known among those in The animated know and for good reason.
"The Wrong Trousers" is a half hour long claymation extravaganza. It features an adorable dog named Gromit, his demanding (but ultimately loving) owner Wallace, a pair of Techno-trousers gone astray and an evil penguin with a penchant for diamonds and chicken disguises. The outrageous plot and strikingly compelling characters, along with what any animator will attest to be virtuoso (and visually exciting) motion make "Trousers" much more right than wrong.
"Bob's Birthday," though just as loved and well-known, unfolds in the more real, though admittedly grotesque world of a work-a-day dentist (the eponymous Bob) who lusts after his butt-scratching, pesticide spraying assistant and helps ruin (if inadvertantly) his own party. Bob's penchant for poetry, pastels and pathetic pronouncements--"Hardly anyone flosses anymore, what's the points?--keeps his "Birthday" very much unlike any kind of morality play on again and marriage, which instead it chooses to spoof.
"The Big Story" (another Oscar nominee) takes on the astoundingly eccentric task of portraying multiple Kirk Douglasses in multiple roles with multiple jutting chins. For two minutes (its entire length) the short is a welcome piece of absurdity. "Triangle" is a sexy piece of modern dance done in water-color and finger paint. Lithe bodies swirl across the screen in a semi-psychedelic fantasy which looks a lot like love-making done to the fierce beat of drums.
Regrettably, some of the American pieces are the weakest of the lot. Relying on a filmsy premise and marred by silly synthesized pseudo-rap, "Mrs. Matisse" tries to recount Henri's beleaguered wife's tale of woe but ends up sounding silly. "Opposing Views," featuring chicken and egg talk-show guests seems a waste of all the work which undoubtedly went into it. With so much time to spend thinking about it, getting beyond the first joke shouldn't be so hard for an animator.
Still, "Spike and Mike's" remains a terrific annual affair, bringing creative, original work to crowds that love them. Oh yeah, you also get in for free if you bring your refrigerator decorated with the Spike and Mike flyer to the show.