mertek's blog: Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 1 (2007)

Info:
Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 1 contains fourteen short animation films spanning more than twenty years of the studio's history, presented (roughly) in chronological order:

• "The Adventures of Andre & Wally B" (1984)
Created way back in 1984 before Pixar even existed, back when the talent worked under Lucasfilm, the very first short is about a bee and a weird amorphous Mickey Mouse-esque character. Short, rough around the edges, and barely scripted, this feature is included for posterity only.
Score: 5/10

• "Luxo Jr." (1986)
Pixar's first official short film brings the iconoclastic company logo—the Luxo desk lamp—to life in a charming short of two lamps entertaining themselves on a desk. A short demonstration, but the start of something magical, "Luxo Jr." was theatrically screened alongside Toy Story 2.
Score: 8/10

• "Red's Dream" (1987)
Created on Pixar's branded computer (yes, back in the day, Pixar actually built and sold animation computers) comes the first true indication of the emerging narrative talent in Pixar: a lonely unicycle in a bike store daydreaming of an exciting life. Heartbreakingly blue.
Score: 8/10

• "Tin Toy" (1988)
The early origins of Toy Story can be found here, in the form of animated toys coming to life, but hands down, this may be the most frightening piece of animation in the existence of the art form. Pixar's first stab at human-realistic computer animation with horrendous results, an animated human baby comes to life like a rubber doll possessed by Satan himself. A frighteningly fascinating glimpse into the emerging art form, but, holy crap, that baby scares me.
Score: 6/10

• "Knick Knack" (1989)
Released theatrically alongside Finding Nemo, "Knick Knack" may be the best-known example of the features presented here, as well as Pixar's continual fascination with animating inanimate objects—in this case, a snowman trapped in a snow globe looking for his freedom. Hilarious and charming.
Score: 8/10

• "Geri's Game" (1997)
An Oscar winner for Best Animated Short Film, released theatrically alongside A Bug's Life, "Geri's Game" depicts a lonely man in the park playing chess against an oddly familiar opponent. Eight years after the previous short, the improvement in the technical skills of the Pixar animation team is evident here, bringing humans to life in a convincing fashion for the first time.
Score: 7/10

• "For the Birds" (2000)
Another Oscar winner for Best Animated Short Film, released theatrically alongside Monsters, Inc.. A clique of birds perched on an electrical wire get an unexpected visitor in the form of a large, awkward blue bird, much to their chagrin. A delightful play of color, character design, sound effects, and dialogue-free storytelling, this is the most quintessential Pixar short of the bunch, best illustrating the amazing talent and cinematic skill of the animators to entertain so easily in such a short span of time. It is also the last to be free from speech—from here on out, they're all talkies.
Score: 9/10

• "Mike's New Car" (2002)
A supplement released alongside Monsters, Inc. on DVD, "Mike's New Car" tells the unfortunate tale of Mike and his awesome new car, a top-of-the-line behemoth with more buttons than a VCR remote. When Sully and Mike try to go for a drive, chaos ensues. Some beautiful animation and technological skill is evident here (check out Sully's fur). For fans of the film, this one scores high marks.
Score: 8/10

• "Boundin'" (2003)
An interesting departure for Pixar attached theatrically to the start of The Incredibles, "Boundin'" tells the musically narrated tale of a young sheep, happy as a clam until sheep-herders appear and shear him of his clothes. Luckily, a jackalope appears to give the young animal the secret to happiness—bounce your cares away. A cute message and colorful animation will sure to delight the kids, but the format of music and monotone poetic narration failed to strike a chord in this reviewer.
Score: 7/10

• "Jack-Jack Attack" (2005)
Something of a deleted scene from The Incredibles, "Jack-Jack Attack" fills in the missing moments with the youngest baby and her hapless babysitter as Jack's super-powers manifest in dangerous and outrageous ways. A fantastic short, but only if you have seen the feature film, otherwise it makes no sense whatsoever.
Score: 8/10

• "Mater and the Ghost Light" (2006)
A short to accompany Cars, "Mater and the Ghost Light" brings back the protagonists from the film for a short adventure in a pseudo re-telling of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"—or in this case, "The Car Who Cried Ghost." After playing endless pranks on the inhabitants of his town, the cars decide to team up and get back at Mater with a prank of their own—a story about a haunted ghost light that eats cars. This one runs just a bit too long for my tastes.
Score: 6/10

• "One Man Band" (2005)
Two street performers vie for the affections of a young girl and her money. Clearly lifting animation influences from the then-upcoming feature Ratatouille, "One Man Band" experiments with more angular character designs and European locals and features some outrageous musical performances from its two musical acts, each trying to outperform the other to comedic absurdity.
Score: 7/10

• "Lifted" (2006)
Shown theatrically with Pixar's Ratatouille, this is modern-era Pixar at its finest: an abduction gone horribly awry with a young alien performing his "abduction test" under the watchful eye of an instructor and making a terrible mess of things. Beautifully animated and side-splittingly hilarious, this is arguably the best short of the bunch.
Score: 9/10

• "Scrat-No Time for Nuts" (2006) EXTRA!
Scrat discovered a time machine while he was busy finding his favourite nut, the machine sends him to the past and the future.
Score: 9/10

Screen:

"Knick Knack" (1989)