Sadly Over-hyped

Lack of good storyline.

A lot of fun.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

I first saw the works of these brothers in 1990. I thought there style of animation was so different then what I had seen before. Although these twin brother directors are American you could not see it in there work. It looked very eastern European, as if it had come out of some Soviet block TV series. While the short films on this DVD make little sense or follow any story line, there are visually fascinating to look at. Some times the imagery is disturbing to look at. If dolls had nightmares this is what they might look like. I can't say I liked their work, but I do feel it is ground breaking visually interesting and creative. This is not for those with a passing fancy in stop-motion animation.

I appreciate the high quality surreal animation, but was otherwise disappointed by this. Nearly all of the imagery comes from Jan Svankmajor, without Svankmajor's wit, whimsy, and story telling abilities. "Street Of The Crocodiles, which I had heard...(read more)...(read more) so much about, was beautiful and ephemeral, it just didn't touch on any new nerves for me. However those who enjoy the more abstract side of animation may find this right up their alley, but if your looking for macabre, literate, Rube Goldbergian animation with storytelling to match it's visual lushness, I would try some "an Svankmajor short films, otherwise this is all you.

Spoilers herein.Imagine the "key" twins of `Zed and Two Noughts.' As they lay dying and decaying in the movie they are making, they imagine twenty six sessions of Carrollinian (conceptual) sex with their daughter, Alice. As they enter the underwonderworld of discarded beings, they are distracted by the Saragossa Manuscript. What results is this collection of story-rooms where they are forced to recreate themselves from the discarded detritus of themselves.They recall literary and musical constructs and build a visual reality around them. As the world is synthetic, half of it has to go toward its own operation.Any day, I'd trade ten evenings with Scorsese for one with the Quays. This work quotes so much arcane literature that I am sure I missed 90% of the references. I thoroughly understand Polish kabbalah and Alice, so appreciated the still nights 2 and 4. In fact, I have never been so visually exhilarated as in those few minutes. The earlier stuff is too oppressive for me to choose my challenges in that flavor. I think Svankmajer got the Alice stuff all wrong, so the early homage to him is flawed. Lots of drawers... relatively unclever in previsualization.I am tentatively giving this only a three of four. A four is must viewing, but I must wait until seeing `Institute Benj.'Ted's evaluation: 3 of 4 -- Worth Watching

The Quays are American-born identical twin animators who work out of London but whose work has a strong Eastern European flavor. I first came across their work one late night on a PBS station while channel surfing. It took about three seconds to realize I was watching something that was an extraordinary, one-of-a-kind experience. "Street of Crocodiles" was a strange epic in miniature, depicting a subterranean world where wooden dolls are brought to life through impossibly graceful stop-motion animation. In it, a silent man explores this enchanting but virtually unknowable place of brownish shop interiors and inanimate objects set into symbolic motion through the wonders of reverse time lapse photography. This Kafkaesque type of journey is typical of the Quays' work. Oftentimes their art seems to be a what a visualization of the subconscious would look like--and oftentimes it's just as hard to decipher.This collection is so valuable because for so long the Quay Brothers have been under-represented on video. Another gem included here is "The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer", named after the Czech animator who is their biggest influence ("Alice", his fabulist revision of the Wonderland story, is also not to be missed). "Cabinet", a parable of a child's education, is more lighthearted than most of their work and is filled with some of the brothers' most sumptuous visual poetry. "Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies" and their pieces on painting and opera are also great. Not for everyone, but adventurous lovers of film, animation and the avant-garde should not miss out on the bizarre and beautiful world of the Quay Brothers. And with this comprehensive collection available, there's no reason not to.