The Tune Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

The Tune Blu-ray Movie Review

"Lost? No, I just don't know where I am."

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown February 1, 2024

You may love the work of animator Bill Plympton. It's been hailed by critics, the Academy, animation studios and iconic animators, publications from The New York Times to National Lampoon (now there's two extremes), and more the world over. But it's also divisive and, well, bizarre; surreal enough to leave some loving Plympton's body-twisting, head-splodin' cartooning and others scratching their heads and wondering what all the fuss is about. His animation never stops moving, and sometimes doesn't stop bending, melting, morphing, oozing and erupting. And while his beloved 1992 feature film, The Tune, ratchets up the "weird" at a nice, steady, digestible pace (at least by Plympton standards), it's nevertheless definitely not a flick for everyone. I was first introduced to Plympton's avant-garde animation in the mid '90s by way MTV animated short showcase Liquid Television (perhaps more fondly remembered for introducing teens and college students to Peter Chung's Aeon Flux). But much as I tried to fall in love, to feel smarter than the average kid, I struggled. I still struggle. (Probably the grotesquery, which often turns me off.) I recognize the talent, the raw verve of real genius. And I've come to appreciate it more over the years. But it all leaves me a bit too cold.

Oscar-nominated animator Bill Plympton's first feature, The Tune, is a surreal animated musical comedy about a struggling songwriter named Del (voiced by Daniel Neiden), desperate to write a hit song in an effort to salvage his relationship with his girlfriend (voiced by Maureen McElheron, who co-wrote the script and composed the music). On his way to meet her, though, Del gets distracted in a "cheerfully deranged" Alternate Universe called the Flooby Nooby: a throwback 1950s world that resembles middle-class America, as seen through the twisted sensibilities of everything from David Lynch to Bugs Bunny. Plympton's colored pencil animation unfurls the bizarro tale of a lovelorn man who loses his way, only to find his heart.

Now comes the point where this becomes one of "those" reviews; where the writer completely turns back on his original statements (made literally just two paragraphs ago) and seems to contradict himself. Here goes. The best bits of The Tune aren't central to the plot. It's the asides, the tangents, the visualizations of a character's imagination, the moments where the animation style shifts jarringly, or when the toe-to-toe of two ideals or philosophies is pictured as a very physical, all too gross war of fists, teeth and weaponry. Yep, the grotesque bits. Such sequences may not be as invigorating to me as they are to Plympton's diehards, but they are moments that represent the animator's grandest flashes of brilliance. It's difficult to describe, much easier to watch unfold (which a quick look at the trailer or a YouTube search will happily provide). The Tune is a short-fuse quickie at just 69 minutes, but it's also just the right amount of time to get in and get out, entertained and amused but unscathed by same-iness and boredom. There aren't big laughs here for all but there are a lot of "who comes up with this stuff?" morsels of whimsy and hilarity, not to mention a few gamey gross-out gags for those who dig 'em. All told, it's a surreal film to be savored and unpacked, or simply to be experienced. You can watch it either way and still find yourself in the camp that adores Plympton's strange fantasies. Or not. You may hate it. The fun of it is that you have to sit down and spend time with The Tune to find out which applies to you. God, I love movies for that. You can't just look and walk away. You have to sit, dwell, enter in, judge and, ultimately, let go and let film do its thing.

The Tune Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

In a 2023-penned blurb that appears at the beginning of the movie, Bill Plympton writes, "The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently preserved my first feature, The Tune (1992), and two Oscar-nominated short films, Your Face (1987) and Guard Dog (2004). These films were shot on film before the digital revolution, but the 35mm negatives were in really bad shape. Thanks to the Academy Film Archive, we now have new 1080p high definition digital masters of each. They did new 2K scans of the original negatives and spent hours removing dust and water spots. I then supervised all-new color corrections. These films have never looked this good! I hope you enjoy them."

He isn't kiddin' either. I can't imagine The Tune looking much better than it does courtesy of Deaf Crocodile's vibrant 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer of Plympton and the AFA team's hard work. Colors stretch and bloom on screen, popping with bright primaries, deep black levels, and contrast leveling that retains the filmic tone of the image. Grain is intact and not distracting in the least, and detail is spot on, with Plympton's line art perfectly presented in all its messy, sketchy rhythms, jukes and jolts. The texture of the colored pencil strokes are preserved beautifully and easy to see, as is the roughness of the single-color backgrounds, the depth of the more traditionally drawn pieces of art, and the clean smoothness of some of the more flat and delirious animated asides. All of it is in keeping with the filmmakers' intentions, and all of it looks precisely as impressive as any fan could hope for. There are a small number of instances where I caught sight of a speck, spot, scratch or nick, primarily in some of the non-color pencil-derived scenes, but each one is a part of the original animation cels and elements. I suspect such imperfections were left in on purpose, so as not to disrupt the hand-crafted, minimalistic simplicity of the production. Plympton wants you to enjoy it and I'm confident anyone with love for The Tune will do just that: enjoy a striking restoration and presentation of one of their favorite animated films.

The Tune Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

While the back cover of The Tune clearly mentions a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mix, the track on the disc is the original LPCM 2.0, an uncompressed lossless format that's comparable to DTS-HD MA or Dolby TrueHD. All of that is to say the mistake on the back cover doesn't matter a lick in the world of the film's audio quality. Some may be disappointed that there isn't a 5.1 remix but purists will shrug their shoulders and enjoy a near-perfect presentation of The Tune's original sound design. Voices are intelligible and well-prioritized, the music sounds great, and effects are clean and clear (although when things get violent, LFE support would have been conceivably more fun).

The Tune Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

It's difficult to imagine a more worthwhile supplemental package to accompany the Blu-ray release of The Tune, other than one perhaps that offers deeper sequence by sequence breakdowns with the voice cast and filmmakers. (Although there's plenty of production details already on tap.) Restorations have even been granted to the animated shorts included on the disc.

• Two Audio Commentaries: A solid pair of commentaries are included. The first, a new track with animation producer/podcaster Adam Rackoff and film critic/podcaster James Hancock, is joined by the primary track to listen to, a 2004 archival commentary featuring animator/filmmaker Bill Plympton and Tune composer and lyricist Maureen McElheron.

• New Interview (HD, 56 minutes): The commentaries are followed by a newly produced, Zoom-esque interview with Plympton, McElheron and Del voice actor Daniel Neiden that lasts for nearly an hour. Moderated effectively by "Lord of Vinyl" writer Dennis Bartok.

• Your Face (HD, 3 minutes): The first Plympton animated short is Your Face, a surreal Oscar-nominated short that's been restored by the Academy Film Archive. Presented in 1080p with LPCM 2.0 audio. (See screenshot #37.)

• How to Kiss (HD, 7 minutes): Plympton's outrageous, tongue-twisting, body-morphing 1988 animated short, sourced from the best available SD master, but in a way that only adds to its warped corporate training video sensibility. Presented in 1080p with LPCM 2.0 audio. (See screenshot #38.)

• Guard Dog (HD, 5 minutes): A 2004 Oscar-nominated short from Plympton revealing a dog's wildest fears as its owner takes it for a walk. The short has been restored by the Academy Film Archive and is presented in 1080p with LPCM 2.0 audio. (See screenshot #39.)

• The Flying House - Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend (HD, 9 minutes): Famed animator Winsor McCay's last animated film from 1921, delivered here colorized, re-scored, restored and newly voiced by Plymptoon Studios circa 2011. Each frame of damaged footage was digitally cleaned; Plympton's hope being that his fresh take on the classic would bring the genius of McCay to the attention of a new generation of animation fans. Presented in 1080p with LPCM 2.0 audio. (See screenshot #40.)

• Trailer for Bill Plympton's Slide (HD, 5 minutes) - Enjoy a preview of Plympton's upcoming new animated feature, with an introduction by the filmmaker.

• 2023 Trailer for The Tune (HD, 2 minutes)

The Tune Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Tune is a film that will produce a very specific reaction: love, hate or a hard, harder-than-hard shrug of the shoulders, followed by questions as to 1) what you just watched, 2) what drugs the animator was taking, and 3) what the big deal is. Everyone will (or should) recognize the skill and genius to Plympton's work, but how much you enjoy such antics, that's another matter. Thankfully, Deaf Crocodile's Blu-ray release is much easier to agree on. Between its striking video presentation, faithful uncompressed audio track, and bevy of extras, fans (and non-fans) can sit back and enjoy the ride, distraction free and with plenty of material to dig through after the film runs its course.