OK, so you want to produce a comedy/drama/social commentary film all your own. But how do you make a movie that's different from all the other comedy/drama/social commentaries out there? How about animation? Well, that's been done by Disney, Pixar, and Ralph Bakshi. No, how about animation with...fruits and vegetables!!!!! Yes, this is the style chosen for what must be one of the most unique films ever created - ORANGES: revenge of the eggplant.

Well alrighty then, our story unfolds in the desert dunes of Bananstan, where the evil banana terrorists have taken several innocent oranges hostage. Outside the city, Dr. Sunkyst, an aged orange adventurer, has enacted his plan to stop the carnage - a wooden (but not Trojan) horse is sent inside the walls. As the bananas continue their reign of terror, the horse unleashes a crack team of orange commandoes. This force overwhelms the banana hoard and allows Dr. Sunkyst to activate his newest invention - a brainwashing machine that turns the bananas to the light side of the force. After this episode, the aged Dr. Sunkyst announces his retirement. Dean Crispus of Orange State University sends his man to convince the doctor to be a professor at the school. Dr. Sunkyst is reluctant to begin a scholarly career however. Meanwhile, the evil eggplant manages to avoid his execution by using a robot double, and causes a riot at the prison to cover his escape - vowing revenge on Dr. Sunkyst for his incarceration. Dr. Sunkyst reconsiders and accepts the Dean's job offer. However, when he arrives on campus, it's obvious that Dr. Sunkyst has been 'out of the loop' for quite some time. A misunderstanding reveals that Dr. Sunkyst's attitude towards apples is defiantly old school - apples now have the same opportunities as oranges. Dr. Sunkyst is ashamed by his 'fruitist' attitude. He becomes excited when he's asked to be a judge at the upcoming science fair, although a suspiciously disguised eggplant is also one of the judges.

Classes continue, and the doctor takes a special interest in orange student Jessica, even canceling a test when she isn't there. Concerned, Dr. Sunkyst asks apple Jerome for help. The student isn't too cool with Sunkyst's attitude towards his fruit, but helps him nonetheless. Sunkyst follows Jessica and learns she is a stripper at a local club. Following a bizarre series of events, Dr. Sunkyst winds up saving Jessica from a would-be rapist. Later, Dr. Sunkyst is given responsibility for choosing the fair projects, and helps Jessica on hers (not very sporting, but he feels an attraction to the girl). Meanwhile, Jerome messes with frat stoners Jake and Erik with his project - an apple robot named Sally. A frustrated Jake is enticed by the evil eggplant to enter a 'special' project in the fair - one guaranteed to humiliate Sunkyst! Will the eggplant's scheme succeed in destroying the career of Dr. Sunkyst? Will the world be safe from his other evil machinations? Will Jessica find true love? Will Jerome break the cycle of prejudice? Will Erik ever stop drinking? For these answers and more (including zombie fruit), check out ORANGES: revenge of the eggplant.

Remember that lecture in Film Studies 101 on the concept called "suspension of disbelief?" ORANGES: revenge of the eggplant is a textbook example. If you can accept the idea of fruits and veggies animated by pens and wire as real characters, then you'll be able to appreciate the creativity behind this film. While the story is no great shakes - a typical comedy/drama with heavy-handed social commentary (replace 'orange' with 'white' and 'apple' with 'black' and you'll get the idea.), the animation is actually quite phenomenal. The sets built for the action have an amazing amount of detail, and the lighting is absolutely incredible. The creators made sure all the little details are covered, from forced perspective to the 3-D look of a single brick. Even if the story is standard fare, the wonderful style of this film will hook you and force you to keep watching to see what interesting bits the animators will come up with next. The picture quality is very good - the focus stays consistent (a usual problem with 'tabletop' animation) the colors are clear and bright (check out the 'acid trip' sequence). There is a slight audio glitch - since the entire soundtrack is voiced-over, there is a definite difference heard when the vocal track is on (as opposed to the music or silent tracks). But that's really a small quibble when taken in the whole - the creators have attempted a feature-length animated film with fruits and vegetables, remember. It's obvious that ORANGES: revenge of the eggplant is a labor of love by filmmakers Rich Evans and Mike Stokasa - and for their efforts, it's worth a look.

The DVD of ORANGES: revenge of the eggplant comes with some interesting extras. Foremost is a ten-minute 'behind-the scenes' feature, which shows the incredible amount of work involved in animating apples and oranges (among others.) It looked like a lot of hard work, but also looked like a lot of fun. There are six deleted scenes included as well - all fully animated, but not good enough to make the final cut. I would have liked to see an interview with the creators detailing the backstory of their creation - I think that would have been very insightful (and probably fairly disturbing - we are talking fruits and vegetables after all)

The word "unique" has been severely overused in movie reviews. However, ORANGES: revenge of the eggplant can rightly be considered UNIQUE. This film is definitely not for the mundane, but if you can appreciate the animation work and suspend that disbelief, then ORANGES: revenge of the eggplant is a clever, creative and unique experience.