Michael_Elliott Fan and the Flower, The (2005) *** (out of 4) Nice animated short from Plympton about a lonely ceiling fan all alone in a room until one day when the old lady brings in a flower. The fan and flower eventually fall in love but soon the old woman forgets to take care of the flower and it finds itself dying. Okay, yes it's far-fetched that a fan and a flower would fall in love but the story here is just too cute where there won't be any problem suspending your disbelief. The movie isn't as colorful as some of Plymtpon's other shorts but I didn't have a problem with this as the black and white animation looked very good and fit the story quite nicely. I thought the story was pretty simple but they milked every bit of emotion they could out of it and in the end their love was actually quite touching.

dbborroughs Wonderful short film from Bill Plympton.The plot is simple a fan and a flower fall in love. To say more than that would spoil one of the most charming animated films ever made.Told with simple black and white lines this is a film that will move you. Its a simple tale told perfectly. I know when the film ended I was upset that it didn't continue on. The wishing of that was pure greed on my part since the film is exactly as long as it needs to be. there are no grand flourishes or showy pieces. Its simple economy.See this film. More importantly see this film with some one you love since in its way it will say more about how you feel then words can express

MartinHafer An old lady lives in a house and her houseplant and ceiling fan somehow fall in love. In the end, the ceiling fan kills itself to save the life of its beloved fading houseplant. I kid you not--this REALLY is the plot of this short film!! I know a lot of people liked this film because it gave them a nice furry feeling, but this bothered me for two major reasons. First, the idea of a houseplant falling in love with a ceiling fan is just stupid. Sure, I can suspend disbelief--but not THAT far! Second, I am a fan (perhaps a bad choice of words!) of the work of Bill Plympton and this sure didn't seem anything like classic Plympton!! Instead of the usual wonderful colored pencil shading, the film was almost completely in black and white outlines. Additionally, the sick and irreverent sense of humor usually in his film is replaced by schmaltz--pure saccharine which is something I never want when I sit down to watch a Plypton film. Instead, give me weirdness, violence and cynicism--that's why many people have grown to love the man!! What we have here is a rather dumb but mildly interesting film...and nothing more.By the way, on the new DVD "Dog Days", this short is included along with Plympton's dog series. However, there are no closed captions or subtitles--a serious concern for me because my deaf daughter loved the dog films (they need no word) but I had to translate as she watched this one. What a pain.

Robert Reynolds How this one missed being nominated for an Oscar, I'll never figure out. Possibly the committee didn't think it was a Bill Plympton because it is, at its heart, a love story. Who knows? In any case, I found it delightful and charming. Because I want to discuss some of the details, this is a spoiler warning: Most people at least somewhat familiar with Bill Plympton's work from shorts like Your Face and 25 Ways To Quit Smoking would probably be surprised to learn that this is a love story-and a beautiful one at that. The twist is (and with Plympton little, if anything, is simple and straightforward) that the star-crossed lovers are a ceiling fan and a flowering potted plant.There are all kinds of Plympton touches in this short-his animation style, some of the visuals paired with the narration (as when the fan is first trying to impress the plant with his three different speeds) complement and accentuate each other quite well and there is humor tinged with sorrow here.This is a visually marvelous short, with one section in the latter part of the short showing the passage of time and the changing of circumstances by a very creative and effective use of silhouettes in a doorway.The ending of the short is marvelous and mixes tragedy and triumph, where out of ruination springs renewal and love transcends life. It's all tied together very well by the narration, done by actor Paul Giamatti.This short is available on a DVD collection of shorts which compiles eight of the shorts nominated for the Academy Awards in the Animated and Live-Action Short categories (all five Live-Action and three of five Animated nominees are here, as well as two extra animated shorts added to fill out the disc). The disc itself is excellent and is well worth getting for this short and the others. Highly recommended.