Sunday, March 1, 2015

The Wonderful World of Pixar Shorts

So today we're talking about Pixar movies.... Well, sort of. Everyone has seen a Pixar movie, whether it be Incredibles or Toy Story, but not many people have seen the short films that accompany the movie unless you see them in theaters.

Whenever the news that a brand-new Pixar movie is coming out, my brain automatically goes to wondering what the short film will be this time, and this is exactly what happened when I heard about  Inside Out*. Recently, we got a sneak peek at the short film that is going to accompany the movie and I am beyond excited!

Pixar shorts have been going on for a long time, and it's my belief that they are the most under appreciated part of Pixar films (other than the amazing crew of people that work together to make all the magic come to life), and I'm here to share them with you today**!


Luxo Jr. (1986)

2.3 minutes

This short was nominated for an Academy Award and follows the lives of two lamps, one adult lamp and another baby lamp and the baby lamp's obsession with bouncy balls. This is where the lamp in the Pixar logo comes from!


Red's Dream (1987)

4.02 minutes

When I watch this short, I get the feeling that this is what caused many children to be terrified of clowns. I'm not even scared of clowns, and this one makes me a little uneasy. So if clown's aren't your thing, I wouldn't advise you to watch this, but that doesn't make it any less adorable.

This short centers around a sad, little tricycle that aspires to be in the circus and show off all of his juggling talents. I'm sensing a pattern here with the anthropomorphism....


Tin Toy (1988)

5 minutes

So a quick thing about the video is that you need to go to 6:35 to get to the actual short since the only correct video I could find was the opening to Toy Story when it was released on VHS (so it includes the commercials and things). 

If you watched this, you now know why Pixar refrained from animating anything resembling a human in their shorts before this. The baby in this film is pretty freaky looking... but I guess if you're a children's toy, babies are the scariest things out there! 

This film was nominated for and won an Academy Award, and was the first computer generated short film to do so. I'm still kind of shocked about the fact that it won an Oscar, to be honest.


Knick Knack (1989)

3:37 minutes

This short follows the attempts of a snowman in a snow globe to get out of his snow globe in an endeavor to reach one of the other "knick knacks". This film is adorable and endearing and thank God there weren't any creepy human-like characters in this one like in the past two. 


Geri's Game (1997)

4:52 minutes

There was a large gap between his short and the last, during this gap, Pixar obviously got some training in drawing people, because the old man in this short isn't nearly as scary as the clown or the baby in some of the other shorts.

This short follows an elderly man playing a very entertaining game of chess against himself in the park and, though there are some chess inconsistencies for all the chess-players out there, it is a very cute and entertaining short.


For the Birds (2000)

3: 36 minutes

This short also won an Oscar and follows the story of some very adorable (and very mean) birds sitting on a power line, along with a somewhat awkward bird that just wants to fit in with all the others.

Boundin' (2003)

4: 30 minutes

So this Oscar-nominated short that was released with The Incredibles is adorable and I love all the rhyming and dancing in this film. It follows a sheep somewhere in the midwest that dances, gets sheared, and loses all confidence in himself. After this, though he meets a jackalope that gives him a pep talk and the sheep can dance and bound again.

One Man Band (2005)

4:21 minutes

This Academy Award nominated short film that accompanied Cars follows two "One Man Bands" as they compete against each other so that a girl in the square will give one of them her coin. This film is-- in my opinion-- pretty hilarious and ironic and I highly recommend it.

Lifted (2006)

4:50 minutes
This short accompanied Ratatouille and follows a young alien as he's going through his first lessen in abduction... and isn't doing so well.

Presto (2008)

4:35 minutes

This short film accompanied WALL-E and in it, we see a bunny and a magician who has tow magic hats. The cunning bunny is tormenting the magician in an effort to get a carrot.


Partly Cloudy (2009)

5:49 minutes

So the storks deliver the babies, right? But where do the storks get the babies? From the clouds, of course! But one cloud  is having a little bi of trouble...


Day and Night (2010)

5:51 minutes

So the video I got for this one has some different music than the original, but it was the only one that I could find.

When people say "opposites attract", they don't usually mean it like this, but when Day meets Night, and almost instant friendship forms.


La Luna (2011)


6:56 minutes

This short follows a son learning the family business, and putting his own spin on the family tradition of changing the way that the moon looks at night.


The Blue Umbrella (2013)


I couldn't find this one online ANYWHERE, which makes me really sad because it is probably my favorite Pixar short. This accompanied Monsters University and was really good and adorable, and if you ever have a chance to watch it, take it!!


The last thing I'm going to talk about is the short film that is going to accompany Inside Out that I am really excited about! The film that will accompany Inside Out is called Lava and will be featuring Pixar's biggest character yet-- a volcano!

Here's a sneak peek of the upcoming short:




Sources:
- Youtube.com
- Pixar.com
- totalshortfilms.com


* There's a great post about this movie on My Disney Ohana for those of you who haven't heard about it yet.
** Really quick, there are a couple of films that won't be on here. The Adventures of AndrĂ© and Wally B won't be on here because it was made when Pixar was still "The Graphics Group of Lucasfilm Computer Divison", so I don't count it as a Pixar short, and Paperman and Feast won't be on here because they were made only by Disney with no involvement of any kind by Pixar (but they are both Academy Award winning shorts and they're REALLY GOOD, so you should check them out!)

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