The Outlaw

Michael B. Common is one of the last smokers left in Britain. He leaves his job in a bank and sees on the news that he is the last smoker as the other one was shot by his friends in what the police are calling `self defence'! Michael makes his way home through a PC London to smoke away from the law.

I caught this little short by chance on late night tv. Based on a newspaper comic strip, it pokes fun at the PC world we live in, where smoking is illegal, slimming is the norm and work is computerised to the point of robotics. The plot is pretty thin but allows us to see this PC world exaggerated in the background as Michael walks home. Most of it is pretty funny although some it is unfair (who would complain about dog owners cleaning up after their dogs?)

The animation is pretty basic but it works well. It was a little to chaotic and rough for my tastes but the material made it work and it is still the work of a hand much, much more skilled than my own! The voice work is OK but to be honest it's hard to tell with so little need for dialogue to make the points.

Overall this is a good little short that is pretty funny. It could have worked a lot better with an actual plot or even an expansion of the jokes it makes (or addition of others), but it's still short and sharp and funny.