Cartoon graveyard

With the possible exception of Rene Laloux’s “La planete sauvage” (“The Wild Planet”), animated films from France rarely make it into theaters in the United States. Unfortunately, the grandiloquently titled program “French Animation in All Its Glory” at the American Cinematheque tonight isn’t likely to win many new fans of Gallic ‘toons.

The touring program of 21 shorts is divided into two sections: “The Menagerie” and “Familiar and Unfamiliar Worlds.” But the films, which often fail to rise above the level of student work, fall into two less edifying categories: artsy/pretentious and bodily functions/vulgarity.

Federico Vit’s appropriately named “Guano!” (1992) is a pointless series of vignettes about urination, defecation and flatulence, told without a shred of wit. Konstantin Bronzit’s “Au bout du monde” (“At the End of the World,” 1998) offers some clever designs, especially the silly-looking cow, but those are lost in a welter of unfunny jokes about dog urine, cow pies and bird droppings. Bronzit is obviously striving for the nonchalant insanity of Dutch animator Paul Driessen, but he lacks the requisite sense of timing for the gags to work.

“L’abri” (“The Shelter,” 1995) by Arnaud Pen features strikingly ugly humans pushing each other into a sea filled with carnivorous monsters. These films belong in a “Spike and Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation,” not a government-sponsored showcase. It’s presented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Animated Film Centre in collaboration with the Assn. of French Animated Cinema.

Philippe Arc’s “Toro de Nuit” (“Bull by Night,” 1996) and Isabelle Faivre’s “Du zero des arenes” (“From Nothing to the Arenas,” 1996) offer some graceful animation of bulls and bullfighters, with fully rendered figures dissolving into semi-abstract clusters of lines that continue the movements of men and animals. But the technique has been used before and to greater effect, notably in Sara Petty’s “Furies” (USA, 1977). “L’enfant de la haute mer” (“The Child of the Open Sea,” 2000) by Laetitia Gabrielli is a bleak tale about a little girl in a flooded city that collapses under the weight of its own pretensions. Aline Ahond and Florence Miailhe use the films “Carnavallee” (“Carnival,” 1998) and “Au Premier Dimanche D’aout” (“On the First Sunday of August,” 1999) to showcase their paintings, but neither woman works in a style that lends itself to animation.

Several of the filmmakers become infatuated with technique for technique’s sake. Bruce Krebs’ “Zebres” (“Zebras,” 1999) consists of little more than a cycle of computer-animated animals running. In “Maaz” (1999), Christian Volckman mixes computer graphics, rotoscoping (a process that converts live-action images to animation) and live action; Helene Moinerie combines still photographs, live action and images scratched and painted onto blank film stock in “D’une Cite a L’autre” (“From One City to Another,” 2000), but neither mixture adds up to much.

“French Animation in All Its Glory” screens at 7:30 p.m. at the American Cinematheque, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; Admission: $9, or $7 for members of ASIFA/Hollywood. Information: (323) 466-FILM or www.egyptiantheatre.com.