Synopsis

In a handmade stop-motion world, Death Cab for Cutie appears as a trio of unusual performers: a pirate bassist, a robot singer and guitarist, and a dragon drummer. As they play, each character recalls an adventure that promised excitement but ended in disappointment. The pirate discovers that his treasure is nothing more than an IOU, the dragon's heroic rescue leads to a cardboard princess, and the robot's journey through space ends abruptly. The colorful fantasy mirrors the song's tension between upbeat energy and romantic disillusionment.

Factoids & Trivia

• "Crooked Teeth" was released as the second single from the 2005 album *Plans*. The song reached No. 10 on the US Billboard Modern Rock chart.

• The video premiered on MTVu on February 6, 2006.

• The animation combines claymation, stop-motion puppetry, boxy handmade figures, and cartoon-like backgrounds. Its visual style was widely noted as a playful homage to Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer."

• The video was made for the band's major-label period, but Death Cab for Cutie continued its preference for visually distinctive concepts rather than a conventional performance clip.

• A separate version appeared on *Directions: The Plans Video Album*, the 2006 collection that presented short films for songs from *Plans*. That edition uses a different animated concept and is sometimes confused with the version released to music television.

• The *Directions* DVD included a rough animatic of "Crooked Teeth" alongside the finished video, offering a rare look at how the visual idea developed.

• The song was co-written by Ben Gibbard and Chris Walla and produced by Walla.