Juke-Bar (1990) Online

The thing I look for in animation (I mean short form here) is novelty. You can do so very much with artificial worlds, and should use that scope when you can. With one exception, we've seen everything here elsewhere and better. In particular in the later Gremlins so far as the actions and characters, and various big projects so far as the fun.

The one very nice thing is two teen roaches. The girl gets squashed by the jukebox when it is delivered. Its so out of tune with the happy nature of the thing it stands out. Later, as the box is taken away the bug is restored. This tiny part was good, especially what we think is the death crunch.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

This is a short animated film funded by the Canadian National Film Board and unlike most of their films, this one is partially animated and partially live-action. The film begins with a man entering his restaurant and seeing a bazillion roaches moving about. The man and restaurant are live-action, the roaches are all models animated using stop-motion and puppets. Soon the guy wheels in an old fashioned Wurlitzer juke box and once it's on, the bugs all start to dance and have a great time. This portion of the film really was rather aimless--just showing roaches dancing and screaming the same scream again and again. Frankly, I think this middle portion went on too long. Eventually, the machine seals itself up and an exterminator comes in and takes away the juke box along with most of the bugs.

While the stop-motion isn't close to being the best I've seen, it is still clever and silly. It's just that this alone wasn't quite enough to make this much more than an average or slightly above average film.

This is not a great short film, even though the animation is nicely done. In fact, you get a mix of animation and real people. A jukebox is delivered in a restaurant where there's quite a few roaches. In the middle of the night, the insects are getting inside the music machine and having fun dancing there antennas away! Interesting how each roaches has it's own look. And funny the way one of them is laughing when sliding in the jukebox. At that point, though, we get the feeling that this short is dragging a little bit too long. In fact, it get's a little boring to see the insects' antics. But the ending is great. All the while, the jukebox was brought in by a pest control company. The name of the company: "Extermination Juke-Bar"! Once the unwanted roaches are inside, they're taken away. I thought it was very funny to end it that way. But, because the rest the film is not so good, I would say this short animated film is only average.

Seen at home, in Toronto, on January 1st, 2005.

76/100 (**½)

Watching this short is an exercise in boredom; how bored *can* you get by what should be charming and fun?

Juke Bar, technically, is superb. This is probably the height of stop-motion animation; the photography is great; the premise of the film is similar to an early Merrie Melodies short. Roaches invade a new jukebox and dance & play.

The whole thing falls short, however, in entertainment. There is no point, the music isn't good, and the "characters" are incredibly annoying. I especially got sick of the wild-haired roach that kept shrieking "Yee-hah!". The caricatures that are the roach-heads are grotesque and not very humorous (I'm shaped by the Merrie Melodies and would have enjoyed caricatures of celebrities or politicians or something.)

Disappointing.

I'll never look at a juke box the same way- this lively film tells the story of a juke box that attracts roaches-- and are they in for a surprise!