Animation Personified

Is there any place better suited for an animation festival than Miami Beach? Every Ray-Banned, man-pursed, Pomeranian-holstering, deep-V-necked dude on the street could pass for a figment of Chuck Jones’s imagination. So embrace your Steamboat Willie and take a chunk of time this weekend to escape from the horrendous animation you’re exposed to on a regular basis and check out some high-quality animated films at the South Beach International Animation Film Festival.

The festival works as a nice intro to animation from Singapore, France, Mexico, and Spain. If you’ve missed the screenings from earlier this weekend, check out animator Jon Canemaker’s films, one of which is The Moon and the Son, which won the 2005 Oscar for Best Short Animated Feature. Canemaker is also famous for his work on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, but a piece of advice: If Paul Reubens shows up, don’t sit next to him; you’re better off beside the figments of Chuck Jones’s imagination.
Sat., March 28, 2 p.m., 2009