MOVIE REVIEW : Diversity is Hallmark of Animation Tournee Opening Today

Since the first edition premiered in 1966, the International Tournee of Animation has offered American audiences rare looks at some of the world’s finest short films. The 21st tournee, which opens in Orange County today at the Balboa Cinema, stands out as one of the best to date.

This collection of 14 films from eight countries reflects the diversity of contemporary animation, from the sublime beauty of Frederic Back’s “The Man Who Planted Trees” to the freewheeling insanity of Cordell Barker’s “The Cat Came Back.”

Barker recaptures the zany fun of the classic Hollywood cartoons in his hilarious debut film, which should be a strong contender for next year’s Oscar for an animated short. The misadventures of a man trying to rid himself of an adorable but destructive kitten, “The Cat Came Back” (Canada), contains more laughs than all the “Garfield” and “Heathcliff” cartoons put together. Richard Williams, best known as the animation director on “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” re-creates the style of ‘40s cartoons with another cat in “Nine Lives” (England), part of a selection of his extraordinary commercials for British television.

Cuban animator Juan Padro provides additional laughs with “Quinoscopio,” a collection of his miniature cartoons (some of them less than a minute long). Although Padro’s work is quite popular in Latin America--he’s made three features and more than 40 shorts--very few of his films have been screened in the United States.

Monique Renault and Gerrit van Dijk turn the stereotyped image of two Apache dancers into a skewed celebration of popular culture in “Pas a Deux” (Netherlands): Caricatures of Betty Boop, Tarzan, Liza Minnelli, John Wayne, Vincent van Gogh, Tina Turner and Pope John Paul II (among others) meet in a series of highly improbable duets. Fabio Lignini parodies American film noir in “When Bats Are Quiet” (Brazil), a spooky short that offers a new twist on Bulwer-Lytton’s phrase, “It was a dark and stormy night.”

Bill Kroyer deftly blends drawn animation with computer imagery in “Technological Threat” (U.S.A.), a tribute to the madcap cartoons of Tex Avery, while Paul Driessen pokes fun at the cinematic images of death in “The Writer” (Netherlands).

In contrast, Sandor Bekesi offers a wistful portrait of Emile Reynaud in “Lights Before Dawn” (Hungary). One of the forgotten pioneers of animation, Reynaud invented the praxinoscope, a mechanical device that projected images drawn on long strips of celluloid, in 1877; he used this invention to provide popular entertainments in Paris years before the first motion picture projections.

The tournee ends on a poignant note with Frederic Back’s delicately beautiful “The Man Who Planted Trees” (Canada), which won an Academy Award earlier this year.

The 21st International Tournee of Animation continues through Sept. 29 at the Balboa Cinema. No one interested in animation or short films should miss this exceptional program.