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March 09, 2008
Pixar Short Films Collection DVD
Sometimes I feel like the advent of computer animation has done little besides encourage studios to crank out shoddy films no one would have taken the time to animate back in the day when animations had to be drawn by hand one cell at a time. (Oh yeah, Barnyard and Monster House, I’m looking at you.) Pixar makes me feel better about all that, though, and the relatively new Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 1 DVD makes me feel better still. Pixar has been a leader in computer animation since 1984’s “The Adventures of André & Wally B.” (Strictly speaking, I don’t think they were officially “Pixar,” then, but no matter. The people who made it grew up to be Pixar.) This particular short is famous, and rightly so. Seeing it today, you’d think it’s old, but you wouldn’t think 1984-old. The characters bear a striking resemblance to those little Miis you can make on the Wii, and the work as a whole still charms, partly because of this crazy thing Pixar does that I call “telling a story.” While some computer animators work to impress us with all the cool stuff they can do (glaring example: The Animatrix, which I don’t mean to diss, as it was fun, but, still, those animators were totally showing off), Pixar believes in a story worth telling. “André & Wally B.” is a simple story (man vs. bee), but, still, it works.
After that, the animations become increasingly more complex and entertaining. 1988’s “Tin Toy,” the fourth in the collection, is a bit of a precursor to Pixar’s Toy Story (1995), and it’s one of my favorite animations ever. (If you’re lucky, it will still be on YouTube when you click here.) It tells the story of a baby and a toy that learns to overcome its (extremely reasonable) fears. Considering that in 1988, my idea of using a computer was playing the version of The Oregon Trail where you had to shoot stick figure deer with the space bar on the Apple IIe, this animation is really freaking impressive. My other favorites in the collection are “Knick Knack” (which is, sadly, the newer, edited version where the female knick knacks have had breast reduction surgeries—I wish I was making that up), “For the Birds” (probably the most satisfying resolution in the bunch), and “Jack-Jack Attack” (which Lucas and I watched about ten times in a row one morning, we were laughing so hard). “One Man Band” is strikingly beautiful visually, “Geri’s Game” is a nerd’s delight, and the most recent film in the collection, “Lifted,” gives the audience a whole new perspective on alien abduction. Really, all of the films are worth watching once, and, if Lucas and I are any indication, most of them are worth watching repeatedly.
Posted by adrienne at March 9, 2008 08:29 PM
Comments
I don't think it's fair to put Monster House in the same category as Barnyard. Say what you will about the story (I wasn't crazy about it- I actually thought it was inordinately scary for a kids' movie); the animation was really cutting edge. I forget what it's called, but they did that thing where they put the little balls all over the actors' bodies. I watched a lot of the special features for the movie and was really impressed. I felt that my opinion of the movie had more to do with taste than its quality. It was nominated for an Academy Award, after all.
Oh, and by the way, you'd better stay away from my Boba Fetts, or I'll drain all the liquid out of your magic 8 balls... :)
Posted by: jp at March 10, 2008 03:27 AM
My point is that fancy animation skillz does not a good movie make, and I think Monster House is a brilliant example of that. Certainly, the animation *and* the story were both shoddy in Barnyard, but the films were equally bad. (Both contained humor that was smarmy enough to make me uncomfortable, and both grossly underestimated the intelligence of their child and adult audiences. I was insulted.)
And as if about my Magic 8 Balls. Like you could even get to them. Pish.
:)
Posted by: adrienne at March 10, 2008 07:59 AM
(Is that to say you're okay with me flushing the stormtroopers' guns? Awesome!)
Posted by: adrienne at March 10, 2008 08:01 AM
I miss Oregon Trail! :(
Posted by: Sabrina at March 10, 2008 09:36 AM
No, that's not okay either, but I would probably recover from it :).
Posted by: jp at March 10, 2008 11:50 AM
I got this DVD (the Pixar short films) for my husband for Christmas -- from the girls. Still haven't watched it all, but we've seen most of it. Good stuff. That "Lifted" cracked me up.
Posted by: Jules at March 10, 2008 02:24 PM
Sabrina, I believe they've updated it. Last time I tried to play one of the updates, though, I couldn't figure it out. I needed a cheat guide or something.
Jason, Whew! Good to know!
Jules, Oh, you know, I feel that alien's pain.
Posted by: adrienne at March 10, 2008 09:27 PM