Saw Le Roi et l'Oiseau, a beautiful French cartoon. It is a film with a strange history: the project was begun in the 40s and released unfinished by a meddlesome producer. From there it lapsed into public domain, where it was packaged into cheap cartoon-collections, unjustly lumped in with such rightfully forgotten dreck as Fraidy Cat and The Herculoids. Cursed with distribution designed more to make a quick buck than to promote genius, the film is almost completely unknown despite being just as wonderful and grand as many of the films by Disney, Pixar, or even Ghibli.
The film's plot revolves around the struggle between the harsh and despotic king of Tachycardia and an insurgent bird in a top hat. The film mines much absurdity and whimsey from the king's lavish lifestyle and childishness. At one point he is hunting for the bird's accomplices. He is seen driving his mobile throne through the moat, his secret policemen in motorized rubber duckies behind him. It's strange and goofy, but played kind of deadpan and surreal. The film also has strangely serious and interesting bits of social struggle (it seems to be seriously into anarchy, delightfully.) At one point our heroes go to the under-city where they are asked if there really is a sun.
The animation is of the super-rendered style that I've seen used to illustrate old children's books. There's a few scenes that have obviously seen the hand of a modern animator (there's some great aristocrats at one point but also some extremely lazily drawn lions) the jokes are dry and silly, but the visuals are impressive. This film is one of the better animated films I've seen and no one has ever heard of it. Go see it.
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