What is Level13.net, and why has their "Best of" come to DVD? As it turns out, Level13.net is a web site devoted to animated 2D films, and in the Just for Laughs DVD, we get fifteen short films that all fall approximately into the genre of "comedy." (Further compilations with different themes are planned for later release.)

The DVD cover states that the films were created at independent studios and film schools; in fact, by far the majority of the films were created by students, mainly from the Vancouver Film School in particular. The press materials state that many of the shorts have won various awards, both in "student work" categories and in broader animation categories, but unfortunately there's no context provided on the DVD to tell us which pieces have been more widely recognized.

Overall, there's somehow a definite sense that these are student projects, perhaps "final exam" type projects for a course, or the art equivalent to a thesis; in any case, the films come with voluminous credits, often acknowledging everyone from their advisors to endless friends, girlfriends, buddies, ex-roommates, etc... Well, the credits might actually not be as long as all that, but they do tend to be a bit out of proportion when they're often as long as the films themselves.

So, how are these films? I've mentioned several times that they're very short, and indeed they are: the fifteen films have a total running time of only 45 minutes. It's quite a mixed bag: some of the pieces are well-crafted and show distinctive, quirky personalities, clever animation, and a wry sense of humor, as we see in "A Tack Attack," which gives us a neuron's-eye-view of stepping on a tack, "Personals," in which we channel-flip through a set of hilarious video personal ads, "Land of Abusement," which parodies the U.S. desire for theme park entertainment. Others fall into a sort of middle ground, being mildly interesting or amusing, like "The Doll," a bit of a cautionary tale about do-it-yourself voodoo, "Super Domestic Robogod Warrior," which deftly captures the feel of Japanese mail-order products, and "A Little Sunshine," where we see a falling-out between the sun and the moon.

A handful are also distinctly... peculiar. Peculiar not in the sense of "odd sense of humor," but in "what the heck is this supposed to be about, and how is it supposed to be funny?" Into that category I'd place some of the shorts like the overly violent and unfunny "Peel Out," "Puss-n-Boom," whose surrealistic style of animation leads exactly nowhere, and several others that were so underwhelming that now I can't even recall, looking at the titles, which ones they were.

The DVD

Video

The video quality varies dramatically among the different pieces in Just for Laughs. Some of the short films are extremely clean and sharp, and on the whole look perfect, while others are evidently direct transfers from a videotape, and are less clear. The DVD is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, and most of the short films are in that aspect ratio, while a few are letterboxed to a widescreen aspect ratio. All in all, the films presented here look satisfactory.

Audio

Like the video, the audio quality varies considerably among the different pieces. Some sound nicely clear and clean, but several of the films had muffled sound at a too-low volume level, making it hard to enjoy the piece. As an average, Just for Laughs clocks in at about average for sound quality for its Dolby 2.0 track.

Extras

The Just for Laughs DVD has no special features at all, not even an explanation of who made these films or how they were chosen for the DVD, which is something I think should have been included.

The menu is minimalistic: the default is to launch you directly into watching the series of short films, but it's also possible to back out to the main menu and select individual films from the chapter list. It is quite handy that each film has been presented as one chapter, since it makes it possible to skip past the endless credits.

Final thoughts

Just for Laughs was a passable way to spend part of an evening, but there's nothing here that really knocked me out, and as a whole, the DVD is merely okay in both content and presentation. Enthusiasts of animation may find it more interesting, but on the whole I would recommend it as a rental.