Pixar's unprecedented string of hit animated features was built on the short
films in this collection. John Lasseter and Ed Catmull used these cartoons the
way Walt Disney used the "Silly Symphonies" during the 1930s: as a training
ground for artists and a way to explore the potential of a new medium. Although
it's only 90 seconds long, "Luxo, Jr." (1986) ranks as the "Steamboat Willie" of
computer animation: For the first time, audiences believed CG characters could
think and feel. (It was also the first CG film to make audiences laugh.) When
the artists began work on Toy Story, they had learned so much from the
shorts, they were ready to undertake that landmark creation. In the later
shorts, the viewer can see the artists continuing to experiment: with a more
realistic human figure in "Geri's Game" and with new ways of suggesting
atmospheric effects in "Boundin'." Some of the more recent shorts continue the
adventures of the characters from the features. "Jack-Jack Attack" reveals what
happened to the hapless baby-sitter while the Incredibles were off
fighting Syndrome, while "Mater and the Ghost Light" shows that life goes on for
the inhabitants of Radiator Springs.
When Sully from Monsters, Inc. tries
to adjust his seat in "Mike's New Car," the animators prolong the moment to
wring every drop of humor from the situation--just as an earlier generation of
animators milked Wile E. Coyote's antics for all they were worth. The
long-unseen films for Sesame Street are an unexpected bonus. A delightful
collection of entertaining shorts, and a significant chronicle of the growth of
computer animation. (Rated G: suitable for all ages: cartoon violence)
--Charles Solomon
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