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Review of "Idiots & Angels (2010)(Theatrical)"
By: Terry Bunch

First Release Date: Apr 26, 2008
US Theatrical Release Date: Oct 6, 2010
Format Reviewed: US DVD
Directed By: Bill Plympton
Written By: Bill Plympton
Animation By: Bill Plympton
Art Direction By: Bill Plympton, Biljana Labovic
Artists: Bill Plympton, Biljana Labovic, Lisa LaBracio, Kerri Allegretta
Genre: Animated/Dark Comedy
Rated: NR
Review Rating: 9/10

By far, this is Bill Plympton's best movie yet. His incredible use of angles and light make this a fantastic movie to behold. The film opens with a tongue in cheek humorous moment and as the story builds, you are introduced to a host of characters. Each character is connected to the next and our lead character, Angel, is quite a jerk. Utilizing sound effects and animation versus dialogue, Bill Plympton weaves a masterful story of redemption as Angel struggles with his own conscience and the greedy desires of those around him.

The story works incredibly well and you can identify with each character. Your own views on the world will draw you to a specific character, but as a whole, the viewers of this movie will dislike Angel at first and then cheer for him later.

This reviewer's favorite element of the animation was the dark pencil-like artwork and the animated transitions from scene to scene. In one scene (see the first trailer on the link listed below), water from a faucet transitions to milk being poured into a bowl of cereal. This type of transition adds a fun element to the style and avoids the overused "fade to next scene" technique.

Since they decided to forego dialogue, sound and music were extremely important to the film's ability to convey emotion and help tell the story. Again, Idiots & Angels excels as the viewer quickly realizes that dialogue would only detract from this movie versus feel like it is missing. Since your own imagination gets to create the actual words of each conversation, each viewer can experience something unique watching this movie.

The music plays throughout the movie almost lending an operatic feel to it. You can tell that each piece of music was carefully paired with the scene at hand and not just thrown in to ensure that there was some noise.

Overall, this movie pulls at your emotions and shows you a fantastical world of characters all drawn together in the eternal struggle of good versus evil. Come along for an incredible journey and see what happens when the wings decide they need to intervene.

Trailers:

http://www.idiotsandangels.com/videos

Terry Gilliam had this to say about Idiots & Angels: "Bill Plympton never knows when to stop. Thank God! Just as I'm asking myself, "How much longer can he maintain this dark and outrageously beautiful tale?", he turns it upside down and inside out and I find myself peering around a corner into a transcendent new world that is gleefully determined to trap me in it's loopy spell. How can he be so poetic, funny, and cruel at the same moment? Where does he buy his drugs?"