7. ‘Geri’s Game’
Created: 1997
Released with: A Bug’s Life
Won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
Synopsis: Geri plays chess against his alter ego in the park. Though sad as an adult to watch this old man settle for the company of his own making, the fast paced game and reactions of each personality, glasses versus no glasses, comes to an end when one Geri fakes a heart attack to win/lose the match. The prize? His dentures.
6. ‘Luxo Jr.’
Created: 1986
Released with: Toy Story 2
Synopsis: The lamp that started it all! Luxo Jr. gave Pixar its mascot and opening title card. The little lamp that wants to play with the parent lamp in this short also has the Toy Story ball as a prop. Sweet and simple, the short highlights the improvements the studio made in animation just two years after André and Wally B.
5. ‘For the Birds’
Created: 2000
Released with: Monsters, Inc.
Won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
Synopsis: The too cool for school, grumpy bird clique make fun of the giant bird who appears on the same power line. Ignorant to their mockery, the dopey creature makes his way down the wire causing it to sink to the ground under the pressure of his weight. The tiny birds peck at his talons until he is about to fall off the line. The joke is on them as they slingshot into the sky losing their feathers int he process. This short tells a humorous, complete tale in the perfect length of three minutes.
4. ‘Partly Cloudy’
Created: 2009
Released with: Up
Synopsis: The clouds in this Pixar short make everything from babies, to cats, to kittens in a style not unlike Zeus’ creation of Pegasus in Hercules. One cloud, however, is a little grayer and his creations are not cute and cuddly. Baby sharks, alligators, porcupines all cause immense, and hilarious damage to his stork companion. Good thing this short ends on a high note as viewers were in for a doozy of a Pixar opening after it ended.
3. ‘The Blue Umbrella’
Created: 2013
Released with: Monsters University
Synopsis: The opening sequence makes you wonder for a second if it is animated. Two umbrellas, one red and one blue, meet in the hustle and bustle of a sea of angry and grey umbrellas on a rainy city street. They are separated when their owners part ways. But the city’s hidden faces make it their mission to bring the blue umbrella back to red. They set off diversions of lights and water streams that not only reunite blue and red, but their owners as well.
2. ‘La Luna’
Created: 2011
Released with: Brave
Synopsis: A young boy receives his right of passage as he is invited to help his father and grandfather in their unique night job. Climbing a ladder to the moon, the young boy finds it is covered with glowing stars that must be swept to give the moon its shape. Both his father and grandfather have their own way of doing things, but the young boy finds his own path between them.
1. ‘Knick Knack’
Created: 1989
Released with: Finding Nemo
Won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short
Synopsis: Knick Knack was the first Pixar short to receive a theatrical release before an original film. The story of a snowman trapped on a shelf next other novelties from sunnier locales, wants to abandon his glass nome and party in the sun. His attempts to bust out of the snowy chamber send him over the edge of the shelf revealing the emergency escape. Finally free, he lands in a fish bowl where an exotic knick knack lies on display. However, his casing floats down over him once more before he can make contact.
New additions!
Pixar’s latest film, Inside Out, opens everywhere today! Be sure to check it out and catch the latest Pixar original short, Lava before the feature film. Later this year, Sanjay’s Super Team will precede the next film in Pixar’s line-up, The Good Dinosaur.
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