Following the closing down of "Termite Terrace" – the true home of the beloved Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons – in 1963 and after completing a few more Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner shorts, animation legend Chuck Jones left Warner Brothers for an unfruitful stint at revamping Tom and Jerry at MGM. To counter this perhaps, he also turned his attention to some highbrow stuff on the side of which, the Oscar- winning short under review is one example and the feature-length fantasy THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH (1969) would be the culmination.What we have here is a series of colourful lines, one of which falls for a red dot, which in turn is infatuated with a doodle (here called "squiggle")! Despite the good counsel of its ilk, the line still mopes after the dot and literally bends itself out of shape to impress it. Before long, the 'jazzy' uncouthness of the squiggle dawns on the latter and it recognizes and starts admiring the 'square' qualities of the line. It must be said that rotund character actor Robert Morley's narration adds invaluable gravitas to the thin plot line. Apart from perhaps wishing kids to love their maths lessons, one could also take this as Jones' denigrating commentary on contemporaneous European abstract animators…not to mention the emerging hippie community!!

A line is in love with a dot but the relationship seems doomed--until the line learns he isn't quite as dull and "pointless" as he thought.While I don't know if this cartoon deserved the Oscar since it's hard to be a hold of older animated shorts and since the animation was so simple, but it is very clever and is probably a film that Geometry teachers would love and talk about and watch again and again!! While this sounds like I hated the film, I didn't--it just didn't thrill me and the idea seemed like it went on just a bit too long. However, because of its uniqueness and how it actually explains mathematical concepts in a fun way, it's a very good film. People that love the novel "Flatland" would also probably love this little film directed by Chuck Jones.

This short won an Academy Award and justly so. While others have said the scripted narration is not terribly good, I disagree. There are one or two excessively florid points, but Robert Morley's marvellous reading covers those and overall, the scripted narration is good. The animation succeeds in part because of the narration. Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble have every right to be well pleased with this cartoon. Why it isn't in print, I don't understand. Highly Recommended.

In order to lure a cute dot away from a swingin' squiggle, a very conservative straight line learns to turn himself into exciting polygons and Spirograph designs.This cartoon unfortunately is more impressive than it is entertaining. The overwrought narration by Norton Juster is read by Robert Morley. This is the first collaboration between Juster and Jones who later worked together on "The Phantom Tollbooth" in 1969.In some ways, "The Dot and the Line" resembles a prototype for that later film since they are both less than the sums of their parts and are both better described than seen. In both cases, Jones is let down by Juster.This 1965 effort however is shorter, better, and less cute than their 1969 feature, and has sufficient charm and originality to be well worth your time.