Since we now have a Random Fun section on the forum (which, moreover, I requested to be added thereto!), I thought it’s time I contributed to this section, and so, I’ve decided to introduce you all to one of my latest sources of amusement, in the form of the output of a French TV company called Futurikon.
This company has unveiled a series of animated shorts, and two full length feature films, under the heading of Minuscule. Those who know me will quickly discover why I find this series of animated movies highly amusing, because it features invertebrates.
Indeed, the format of the series is interesting in its own right, before we consider the characters. The format consists of video footage of parts of the French countryside (and sometimes, the odd bit of urban habitat too), over which the CGI characters are overlaid, and there are moments of comedy arising simply from this juxtaposition.
But then, we come to the characters. Which are actually rendered fairly simply, but with enough detail to exude their own miniature personalities. We have:
[1] The ladybird that likes to torment flies;
[2] The flies themselves (which sometimes like to torment the spiders, and have a silly laugh);
[3] The spiders (which manage to become involved in all manner of strange escapades involving balloons and, in conjunction with the flies, toy buses);
[4] The practical jokester grasshopper;
[5] The kleptomaniac millipede;
[6] Assorted caterpillars with volatile GI tracts, several of which emit the sort of burp and fart noises guaranteed to amuse the under fives;
[7] The dragonflies that on one occasion appear to be taking part in a Quidditch tournament (or it could simply be an aerial version of rugby union - those with better knowledge of both can clear this up for me!);
[8] The wasps that form their own aerobatic team.
I’ll provide a little taster of this below, starting with one sequence that I regard as a piece of comedy genius - the wasps becoming involved in their own version of the Chuck Yeager NF-104 inverted spin incident from around 104,000 feet, complete with an in-flight refuelling sequence that on its own is a piece of truly inspired comic genius, before we arrive at the main plot. Here you go:
Other vignettes to look out for, include such questions as why several of the invertebrates are so interested in peas (including, bizarrely, tinned ones), the constant battle between the black ants and the red ants (including their various sugar cube wars), and what happens when the comedy ladybird leads a bunch of angry flies into a supermarket.
There’s also two full length feature films in the series, accompanying the shorts.
Highly recommended for those who enjoy silly humour pulled off with finesse, spiced up with the occasional touch of French existentialism.
Go forth and enjoy!