This is a fun collection of films from early Pixar. In the very first short, 1984’s Adventures of
Andre and Wally B, there’s a silent film vibe that will become more obvious in
later films like Wall-E. Even more,
shorts like For the Birds and Tin Toy rely on the expressive faces of silent
film, especially the eyes, that is a Pixar animation trademark.
And many of these films anticipate Pixar projects, too. Tin Toy and Knick Knack anticipate the Toy Story trilogy, not only with their interest in toys but even with some
of the toy characterizations. The
terrible kid of Tin Toy might be a predecessor of the daycare kids of Toy Story
3, and the sleek figures of Knick Knack anticipate Barbie and Ken in tone. There’s also an interest in an old man
character in Geri’s Game that anticipates Up, a film that deals sympathetically
with an old curmudgeon but skirts maudlin cliché for the most part.
This collection also shows the beginning of Pixar producing
short film tie-ins to some of its major releases. is a hilarious slapstick riff
on the Mike and Sulley characters from Monster’s, Inc, and Jack-Jack Attack
uses classic Warner reality bending to posit what would happen to a babysitter
as an Incredibles superbaby begins to use his powers. Mater and the Ghostlight shows the danger of
such an approach becoming stale, though, as this little short overdwells on
Cars’ Mater character without using much inventiveness. It’s to Pixar’s credit that the studio
typically avoids such predictable, uninvolving projects.
And this collection also finds Pixar reaching outside Pixar World and stretching its creativity in some unexpected directions. In some cases, like that of Red’s Dream, this
outreach fails. This little short has a
distinctly graphic novel tone that ultimately only feels derivative. One Man Band is hardly more engaging with its
link to European culture, and Boundin’ feels like vintage Disney in the Wild West. Slightly more fun is the slapstick-in-space
Lifted with a young alien fumbling a human abduction under the critical eye of a supervisor.
The best film of the collection, and the one of most importance
to Pixar, is the very short Luxo Jr.
This 1986 film not only gives Pixar its desk lamp icon, but it gets at
the element in Pixar films that makes them unique and that brings people back to
theaters again and again: Pixar films’ focus on an emotional core that evokes a
shared human experience. Here, a child
(lamp) breaks his toy and is consoled by the parent before the kid finds a new toy
he likes just as enthusiastically. The
bemused parent looks directly at us as we share this human moment we all
recognize. In its two-minute run time, Luxo
Jr reveals the crucial element in Pixar’s ongoing success in feature length
computer animation.
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