Forget Tom and Jerry and even Bugs -- grown-up animation arrives today in the 23rd International Tournee of Animation.

A clay man hunting a potato, Xerox images flashing across the screen, an elevator opening on scenes from history and cartoon people trashing the earth highlight the tournee.

The tournee's 19 short films suit diverse tastes -- some frivolously follow the exploits of their colorful characters, while others pointedly address timely issues.

One of the compilation's most impressive entries, At One View, features an odd mixture of stunning images and voice over narration. What begins with two men casually reading newspapers tranforms into photographs animating into moving pictures within moving pictures. The effect stuns as much as it impresses.

The brief Arnold rides a chair follows claymation boy Arnold as he travels in his mind. It may seem the film offers little more than a momentary diversion, but its message of imagination exercise makes it a positive learning tool for children.

Luxo Jr. in Surprise and Light & Heavy might also benefit children. But the short also contains some of the tournee's most impressive object animation. Filmmakers achieve object animation through shooting a single frame of film, moving the object a minute amount and then taking another frame.

The laborious process takes patience to perform and expertise to perfect. In the film, Luxo Jr. is a desk lamp whose movement looks effortless. The lamps haven't even the slightest look of jerkiness. It's obvious that the filmmakers painstakingly manipulated the lamps to achieve such quality animation.

The distinction of most bizarre film in the tournee belongs to Photocopy Cha Cha. Produced with a Xerox machine, the short blurs and distorts images with a mesmerizing effect. If you live by the split-second flashes on MTV, then Photocopy Cha Cha will bowl you over.

Animation never seems to get a fair shake even though it can take just as long -- or longer -- to construct such films. So give the festival a chance. It's not just watching cartoons.