For goodness knows how long, Bill Plympton has been producing, writing, and animating minimalist cartoons -- or, as he calls them, "Plymptoons." He has rarely, if ever, had much of a budget, so they generally fall into the category of "radio with pictures" or slide shows, with movement providing by a technique that looks like someone has been shaking the cel while it is being shot.
Nonetheless, the Plymptoons have been a consistently excellent series, and the reason is, I feel, that animation is expensive, but writing a good story is merely difficult, and Plympton has mastered the technique of writing this story about a stoplight in the middle of nowhere, to his budgets and getting a lot of talented help.
Here it's the narration of Paton Oswalt and a fine musical score, with someone doing a fine Dobro solo. I think that you'll find this typically quirky story of a public-minded object as engaging as I did.
