From the brilliant creative mind of Jack Stauber, who gave us the staggeringly dark 'Opal,' comes what is one of the most surprisingly uplifting shorts that I've watched. 'SHOP: A pop opera' is fun and unserious, but there is remarkable intelligence behind its craft.
The premise sounds oh so simple: "A man learns life lessons while shopping for groceries." What I didn't anticipate, knowing nothing of Stauber otherwise, was being greeted with infectiously catchy pop tunes that immediately burrowed into my mind. Every little ditty in this film is a treat, built with simple chords yet an irresistible beat. And the lyrics, fulfilling the promise of the synopsis, are undeniably clever. The rhymes and puns catch our ear, certainly, but the very words being strung together are quite an astonishing feat of language for a 12-minute feature from Adult Swim. And even the way the vocals flow with the music is impressive in their own complementary way. How is this so good?
'SHOP' is made with a combination of stop-motion, including claymation, and otherwise animation. As is usually the case, the claymation lends itself to some rather creepy visages as human faces are exaggerated in particular ways, but the intent here is not to unsettle, but to keep our attention. And that it does, though as good as this short is generally, that extra step isn't even necessary.
Our shopping protagonist runs into several individuals in the aisles of the store as he seeks the items on his list. They present caricatures of some of the very peculiar people we've all come across at one time or another - the coffee-obsessed, the probably senile senior citizen, the impatient, the self-important. Each of these additional characters seem to have only a single personality trait, and it gets laser focus here for the purpose of comedy and storytelling. Yet, gosh, are they familiar.
But the real meat of 'SHOP: A pop opera,' the content for which even the wonderful music is only a vehicle, is the weirdly philosophical ponderings that the shopper undertakes with each item and encounter. There is fun poked at the impossibly great variety of supposedly unique products that line shelves, but such frivolity is balanced with a daydream extrapolated from an expiration date. And the ultimate lesson, hinted at throughout, is the power of choice, and what it can mean for us.
Despite my loquacity I'm not sure what to say: 'SHOP: A pop opera' is genuinely not what I was expecting, not as Adult Swim content generally and not from the creator of 'Opal,' specifically. It's fun, funny, and truly entertaining, yet thought-provoking at the same time - and oddly positive in its mood.
Don't let the surrealist bent or the company 'SHOP' keeps turn you away from watching - even for a general audience, this is well worth 12 minutes of your time.
