Pixar – Short and Sweet

Pixar Shorts

Partly because I received a lot of comments and emails wondering why I made no mention of Pixar’s spectacular collection of shorts, and partly because I was looking for another excuse to wax poetic about Pixar, today I’m going to discuss their shorts. I’m not going to rank them by preference, but by release date instead, with a few simple sentences spent to sing the praises of each one.

The magic in Pixar’s short films is that they are wonderfully human. With only a couple of exceptions, they are dialogue free affairs, allowing music and emotion to tell a story that lasts far longer than the scant minutes might suggest. I’ve embedded each one for you to enjoy. I really hope you do.

The Adventures of André and Wally B. was Pixar’s first short, made in 1984 a few years before they were even Pixar. Done primarily as a tech demo for the graphics arm of LucasFilm this short was the first computer animated work to display anything close to human emotion.

Luxo Jr. was the first “official” Pixar short and the first one I ever saw. I’ll never forget the day. My parents took my sister and I to the annual animation festival held on the campus of Cal State Long Beach. Luxo Jr. was scheduled. I saw it on the program, read the short description, and wondered how a computer could draw anything. When it finished, I knew I’d seen something special. The thundering applause obviously agreed.

Red’s Dream is from Pixar’s “blue period.” It tells the tale of a lonely unicycle being sold for 50% off. The unicycle dreams of a better life while the sound of a lonely sax wanders through the background. The jump in graphical achievement between Luxo Jr. and Red’s Dream is simply remarkable.

Tin Toy quite clearly sows the seeds of Toy Story. In it, a baby crawls across the floor instilling fear into the hearts of his old toys while terrorizing his newest “tin toy.” Though this short does look a bit dated, it amazing to see how high Pixar was reaching at the time, clearly far beyond the scope of available technology.

Knick Knack is the first to display the undiluted promise of all to come. Six years before Toy Story and the last short film made until the film was ready, Knick Knack tells a simple, beautiful, and wordless tale about reaching for something better. The music is wonderful and the punch line perfect.

Geri’s Game was the Pixar short that kicked off the wonderful tradition of placing a new short before each film. It tells the quiet story of a chess game in the park featuring a man who looks remarkably like my grandfather did in the last few years of his life.

For the Birds played before Monsters Inc. When I first saw it, I was sitting next to a seven month pregnant Cindy who laughed so hard I thought I was going to be a dad two months early.

Mike’s New Car might be my least favorite Pixar short. It isn’t that it isn’t good, it’s just that it didn’t have the same fresh scent as every one that preceded it.

Boundin’ is funny and wonderful, and preaches a lesson that every child and adult should learn once, learn often, and never ever forget. Though this one does use language, the way it is used makes the writer in me adore it all the more.

Jack-Jack Attack is the five or so minutes that were missing from The Incredibles. It works for me in a way the other shorts directly related to their parent films do not. Jack-Jack Attack not only manages to be fully entertaining on its own, it enhances the magic of the original film as well.

One Man Band often competes for my favorite spot. Everything about it is magic. Wow.

Mater and the Ghostlight invokes the exact same feelings for me as Mike’s New Car. It is probably my son’s favorite.

Lifted is for anyone who has ever learned to drive, wondered about the mechanics of alien abduction, or appreciated things that were awesome.

Presto has an old school charm that is rad and a half. Shown before WALL-E, I almost liked this as much as the movie.

Partly Cloudy is the latest Pixar short, shown before UP. Only 30 seconds is available on this one, but GIANT SMILES fill the other few minutes.

I highly recommend getting the Pixar Shorts DVD. The audio commentaries are wonderful, as is the included short documentary. I promise, seeing these shorts in their compressed YouTube format is NOTHING like seeing them in all their perfectly articulated glory.

Writer Dad

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