The story is about a traffic light in the middle of nowhere and the life it leads over the years. I am a huge fan of Bill Plympton and this is why this short was such a big disappointment--and I cannot understand why it was chosen as a commended film at the recent Oscar Nominated Shorts program. I have met the man and talked with him about his films...and I even have a nice drawing he made of me....so I am obviously a fan. However, among the several dozen shorts of his that I have seen, this is one of the worst, if not the worst...yet it was inexplicably included in this showing.
Why, exactly, did I dislike it so much? Well, the biggest reason was the quality of the animation. While it looked a bit like Plympton's work, the artwork looked too hurried and lacked the detail and quality of his other films. Oddly, his oldest films look at least as good as this one...perhaps better. It simply looks hurried...very hastily put together. As for the story, it's not much better...uninteresting to say the least.
