Art school geek meets basic math and the result is the magic that is the Pixar Studio. This collection of 13 short films starts with the very first, “The Adventures of Andre and Wally B.”, from 1984, and runs through 2007. Esthetically and historically, they are wonderful, but it’s the commentary that is the real star. Listening to John Lasseter relive the angst of animating a light cord in Luxo, Jr, or the delight of hitting upon the teardrop body shape in that very first film, point up the early limitations that are nowhere evident in the finished product. That was the real genius of these animators. Using pixels instead of ink, they produced films that lacked for nothing, including great characters. Make that most importantly great characters. The triumph of human modeling in “Tin Toy” is impressive, sure, but it’s the terror of the eponymous toy trying to escape the destructive embrace of a baby that resonates and produces one of the best laughs in animation. “Red’s Dream” can still bring a lump to one’s throat.
Just when the finer points of feather animation threaten to get too technical in “For the Birds”, filmmaker’s kids take over the commentary for “Mike’s New Car,” wherein that MONSTER’S INC character tries out his new vehicle with Sully innocently causing mayhem. They speculate with inimitable kid’s logic on how the animation is done, why water is hard to animate, and mostly just enjoy the film with the unfiltered pleasure that only kids seem to have. Gary Rydstrom, the director of the final short, “Lifted” reveals how much of himself he threw into this, his first directing project and, with the animation, reveals how expressive a blob of goo, in this case the face of an inept alien, can be. He also sums up what the best animation is all about: it makes you forget that it is animation at all.
“The Pixar Shorts: A Short History” is just that, told as an oral history of the people who were there from the beginning and are for the most part, and most tellingly, still there today. What began as a marketing tool for Pixar imaging software soon became the focal point of a serendipitous meeting of art and technology manifested in the puckish personalities yelling at each other for help across a cramped office. For all the tales of wonder and sleepless nights and computer geeks asking how John Lasseter had programmed funny into a short, the most memorable moment has to be when someone points out that at the beginning, they were using a computer with less power than what’s found in a cell phone today.
The true test of a film, particularly a comedy, is how it holds up to repeated viewings, and all the shorts here pass that test with flying colors. In fact, there is something addictive about watching that gelatinous alien or that desperate tin toy negotiate the hostile world around them. Not to mention delightful.
Your Thoughts?