MOVIE REVIEW : Mike & Spike’s Animation Festival: A Colorful Bag : The 18 short films include the strikingly beautiful “Screenplay” out of England.

Mike & Spike’s Original Festival of Animation 1993, a collection of 18 short films from six countries (at the Edwards South Coast Plaza Village Cinema), may be a mixed bag, but it offers viewers a look at one of the most strikingly beautiful animated shorts in recent years.

In the exquisite “Screenplay” (England), Barry Purves combines three-dimensional stop-motion animation with two-dimensional drawn imagery. As a puppet in Kabuki robes narrates a tragic Japanese legend in English and in sign language, the events he describes are enacted by other puppets and illustrations on sliding screens. Purves evokes the mannered beauty of both Kabuki and Bunraku theater while demonstrating the special magic of animation in a tour de force that should be a strong contender for this year’s Oscar for animated short.

None of the other films approaches this level of excellence, but many still are quite entertaining. In “Vykrutasi” (“The Wire Prankster,” Russia), a three-dimensional figure creates a universe from a spool of metal wire, only to destroy it in a mordant parable of the futility of the arms race.

John Weldon uses stop-motion animation of photographs and cloth figures in “The Lump” (Canada) to prove that in some situations, two heads really are better than one. Although technically sloppy, “The Lump” reflects Weldon’s wonderfully absurd sense of humor.

Aardman Animations, the creators of last year’s Oscar-winning “Creature Comforts,” is represented by a sampler of its exceptionally polished and often very funny commercials. In Aardman director Jeff Newitt’s “Loves Me, Loves Me Not” (England), a vain little clay figure takes his belief in the prophetic power of a flower petal to extremes. This engaging short goes on a bit too long, though, and seems more interesting as an exercise in technique than as a film.

Many of the other entries lack originality. Joe Murray’s “My Dog Zero” (USA), which shows that even the most flea-bitten mongrel can be man’s best friend, gets laughs but the designs and humor are borrowed from the recent Canadian film “The Cat Came Back.”

The graceful silhouette animation in “The Prince and the Princess” (France) by Michelle Ocelot recalls the pioneering work of Lotte Reiniger; the visual appeal of this very pretty film is unfortunately weakened by its lack of structure. Barbara Marheineke’s “Idole Mio” (Germany) depicts a crude clay figure blatantly copied from Hungarian animator Csaba Varga’s popular “Augusta” shorts.

As often has been the case in recent years, most of the computer films feel like portfolio pieces. Audiences enjoy watching the funny-looking aliens consume flatulence-producing pods in “Gas Planet” (USA) by E. Darnell and M. Collery, but the film lacks a conclusive ending. The giant mechanical bug in “Grinning Evil Death” (USA) may represent an impressive example of computer graphics but the animation fails to convey the necessary sense of mass. When the monstrous insect falls, it seems to weigh no more than a paper clip.

* Mike & Spike’s Original Festival of Animation 1993 continues through March 4 at the Edwards South Coast Plaza Village Cinema, 1561 W. Sunflower Ave., Santa Ana, in conjunction with the “Sick and Twisted Festival” which was not available for preview. Information: (714) 540-0594.