Adventures in Plymptoons!

An In My Opinion production. Created by Alexia Anastasio. Executive producers, Anastasio, Edward A. Anastasio, Katy Anastasio, Ken Mora, Mark Steiner. Directed by Alexia Anastasio.With: Bill Plympton, Terry Gilliam, Erectile dysfunction Begley Junior., Ron Jeremy, Keith Carradine, Marilyn Zornado, Maureen McElheron, Jerry Beck, John Anderson Geoffrey Gilmore, David Silverman, Jay O. Sanders, Jonathan Caouette, Rob Bakshi, Will Vinton, Strange Al Yankovic, Matthew Modine, Martha Plimpton, Moby, Tom Kenny."Adventures in Plymptoons!" pays tribute to Oscar-nominated animator Bill Plympton, greatly within the type of their own gleefully impudent work. Full of clips and interviews with celebrity fans and co-workers, Alexia Anastasio's documentary could attract exactly the same small but loyal niche audience the topic themself has lengthy won via self-distribution to theaters and home formats. Using art from an earlier age to draw in women, the Or native began his professional existence drawing scatological pictures for Al Goldstein's "Screw" along with other skin magazines -- in addition to more legit guides -- within the freewheeling '70s. Early short "The FaceInch snapped up Oscar attention, stunning Plympton (and composer-singer Maureen McElheron). It established his usual ultra-low-tech, hands-attracted-pencil style and fondness for inventive, frequently disgusting physical grotesquerie. His work grew to become a fixture of MTV station-break spots and packages like "Spike & Mike's Festival of Animation." Always resourcefully independent -- he once switched lower a $a million offer from Disney to keep complete charge of his work -- the cartoonist joined features with 1992's "The Tune." He's made five more since (including one compilation), all produced inhouse at his barely staffed NY studio, which handles marketing/distribution chores too. It is a remarkably prolific output inside a typically painstaking medium, supporting one colleague's declare that he's "the quickest animator in the industry.Inch Some might argue less could be more, as Plympton's features pay scant focus on such niceties as plot and character development they are virtually lengthy strings of gags, most of the gross-out type. (A critic here who damns a lot "twisted" violent and sexual imagery as "just a lot of ugliness" is actually Plympton themself, disguised as pretentious alter ego W.P. Murton.) "Adventure's" format of short-designed sections that mingle excerpts (including newer and more effective material) with behind-the-moments glimpses and interviews is a perfect showcase for which can induce viewer fatigue over an unbroken 70- or 80-minute haul. Individuals talking about his work -- sometimes tongue firmly grown in oral cavity -- vary from fellow artists (such as the similar-minded Rob Bakshi), studio staff and voice talents to fans, family people and ex-female friends. Like its subject, the docu turns its slim means into a benefit using a cheekily assertive DIY aesthetic.Camera (color), Kevin Sean Michaels editors, Anastasio, Michaels music, Bruce Balmer, Hank Bones, Parson Brown, Didier Carmier, Keith Carradine, Corey Jackson, Maureen McElheron, Smokey Miles, Nicole Renaud, David Silverman. Examined at Bay Area Docfest, March. 23, 2011. Running time: 85 MIN. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com