Animated film is rarely my bag. Many swear by fare such as The Incredibles and Shrek and while I get a certain amount of instant gratification from these films, rarely will I give them a second viewing and certainly owning the DVDs is out of the question. Probably my major gripe is that animation on this level is thought of as something that must primarily appeal to chlidren, in order to justify the amount of money it takes to create this type of stuff.Of course, the main reason these films are successful is because they work on "two" levels. Don't get me wrong - just a few years ago I was going to the movies with Jake to see Finding Nemo - I understand the value of true "family" fare that manages to work for everyone. Jake is now 13 and his interest in this sort of stuff is waning.
Now that I'm free from the shackles of Di$ney & DreamWork$, I want animated fare that works on one level - and that is for adults only.
Enter Free Jimmy, a CGI-animated film from Norway, which ain't for the kiddies (click here and hammer around the film's website). Its tagline is "Four stoners, three gangsters, five vegans, and a million reasons to free one junkie elephant." I am vaguely reminded of Peter Jackson's Muppet movie Meet the Feebles, which amused me so in the youth of my twenties.
From the site:
FREE JIMMY is a burlesque, satiric comedy involving greedy slackers, murderous gangsters, fanatic activists and a junkie circus elephant on the run. It is sex’n’drugs’n’rock’n’roll with aesthetic comic book violence smeared out in slow motion, splattered with blood, vomit and intestines.
Variety just posted a review of Free Jimmy (it premiered at Cannes last week). While it isn't a glowing piece of criticism, it really only served to pique my interest. Assuming we someday get this movie Stateside, this is true opening [mid]night fare.
Ralph Bakshi has been absent for far too long. In order to suffer through another animated incarnation of Mike Myers, I'll have to stick a needle in my arm. I am a junkie elephant in need of a fix. Free Jimmy and bring him to the U.S.!
