Moon Man

The man on the Moon is lonely and bored up there, so when a passing comet gets within reach, he grabs on to its tail and rides it into Earth. Meanwhile, down here, The President Of Everywhere has successfully taken control of the entire planet, and is convinced that his next step should be to conquer the Moon. When the comet crash lands, The President takes it as an act of war and has the Moon Man hunted down. However, while all of this is happening, the children of Earth are all suffering from chronic insomnia, due to the Moon Man no longer being up on the moon.

Based on a story by the legendary Tomi Ungerer (who is also the narrator on this movie), this is one half bed-time fairy-tale, and one half adult-aimed subversive animation. The best word to describe it is 'weird'. The visuals are jerky, basic and at times seems unfinished, but at the same time wondrous, beautiful and perfectly representative of the story they're telling.

Moon Man himself is a mix of childlike wonder and old-man alien, both endearingly innocent and creepily voiced. Then there's the supporting characters, from The President all snooty, all-too-easy-to-dislike character being a stand in for... well... any number of political or business leaders you could think of. There's a genius scientist who has created and discovered everything, got bored of his life, and has been sleeping for the last few decades. There's an owl and moose team who help each other through the dense forests at night. There's a father and daughter and their dog driving home from a drive-in movie. Watching how all these characters cross over and intersect is great, especially with the rich script they're working with, with some great visual and aural gags, working in the likes of Michael Jackson's moon-walk or the perfectly time arrival of the song Moon River.

Probably a little too obtuse and adult-themed to be properly enjoyed by anyone under the age of 15, Moon Man is the perfect antidote to anyone thinking that animated movies were all just Disney versions of well told stories. Just be prepared for its weirdness.