Angry Kid

When the Ramones were twee lads, they must have acted something like the precocious youngster in the 60-second Angry Kid shorts (www.angrykid.com), which mark the debut of a new character from Britain's Aardman Animations studio (of Wallace & Gromit fame). Each film is like a surreal iMac home movie showcasing the Kid's behavioral tics. In one, he tests the limits of swearing from the backseat of Dad's car; in another, he crafts a battery-powered toothbrush from Mom's vibrator. Blatant rudeness helps Angrysteer clear of the Kids Say the Darndest Things pothole, but the lack of an overall story line makes it seem like leftovers from an experiment that Aardman — whose first feature film, Chicken Run, will be out in June — couldn't do anything else with. Still, there's a new technique at work here that makes the rubbery facial expressions and 3-D settings resemble some kind of hyper-Claymation. That alone makes this Kid considerably more interesting than your average screaming brat. B