THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT... PIXAR'S SHORT FILMS

Everyone has a favourite Pixar film. The Incredibles, Toy Story, Finding Nemo…Their list of hits is seemingly never-ending and even the so-called weaker pictures like A Bug’s Life and Cars still have more heart, ideas and freshness in a minute of celluloid than most rival animation houses have in their entire output. But what about their short films? So often overlooked in favour of their famous features, Pixar’s shorts gave the company their big break back in the 1980s and still prove a treat for cinemagoers today.

It all began in 1984 when Pixar was still owned by Lucasfilm and specialised in computer hardware production instead cartoons. Looking to create something special to show off their latest developments at an industry expo, John Lasseter and a small team of computer boffins decided to make a short film and came up with Andre and Wally B, a minute-and-a-half long short about a weird, big-nosed creature and giant bee bickering in a glorious, autumnal forest.

The animation is crude by today’s standards, but it proved a story could be told with computer animation and three years later they followed it up with the famous Luxo Jnr. The simple story of a parent lamp who watches as his son plays with and then accidentally deflates a ball, it exhibits Lassester’s genius for generating a wealth of emotion - everything from joy and sadness to shame and sympathy - from characters who are comprised of little more than three or four geometric shapes stuck together.

He achieved a similar feat with the following year’s Red’s Dream, a three minute film about a red unicycle with unrealised ambitions of juggling, before 1988 flick Tin Toy, in which the titular plaything tries to escape the clutches (and slobbering mouth) of his infant owner, gave the company a huge shot in the arm by winning an Oscar. Again, Lasseter’s mastery of visual storytelling shines through, and while the animation is crude, they and the following year‘s Knick Knack proved the company had enough imagination to fill a full-length film, and so Toy Story was born.

At this point, Pixar could have abandoned their short film output and concentrated on features instead. But, understanding that shorts are the perfect arena to test new technologies and untried talents, they continued the tradition with 1997’s Geri’s Game, a sweet story about an old man playing chess against himself. The first time Pixar truly perfected human skin and movement, Geri’s Game was an important breakthrough that would later allow them to make human-centered flicks like The Incredibles and Ratatouille, and added a little complexity to the simple storytelling they had in Tin Toy and Knick-Knack.

Up next was the magnificent For The Birds, the story of a group of bullying little avians who get their comeuppance after picking on one of their larger cousins. Another important flick for Pixar’s technological developments, it helped pioneer the realistic feathers and fur that would be so important to Monsters Inc. More importantly from a non-geeky point of view, it is arguably their finest short film, with director Ralph Egglestone creating a rich, detailed and funny story, which is as satisfying as any feature, despite its short length.

With the DVD release of Monster’s Inc, Pixar branched out into shorts featuring characters from their existing films. Mike’s New Car, the self-explanatory short included on the aforementioned film’s DVD, came first followed by Cars’ Mater and the Ghost Light, Ratatouille’s Your Friend The Rat and, best of all, Jak-Jak Attack, the hilarious story of what happened at the Incredibles’ home when a young babysitter bit off more than she could chew with the heroes’ baby. Short but perfectly formed, they’re so good you wonder why Pixar haven’t produced more and turned them into a TV series. I know I’d tune in.

Yet there remains something special about the original shorts Pixar creates for their pre-feature entertainment. Their most recent offerings, music-tinted One Man Band and alien abduction caper Lifted, have again found the company producing funny, inventive and sweet films that prove perfect tasters for the movies they are attached to, yet manage to exist as masterful works of art in their own right.

For Wall*E, they’ve come up with Presto, the story of a magician and his rabbit battling for a carrot. It will last only a few minutes and probably be missed by a significant portion of cinemagoers who are still waiting in line for their popcorn and Coke. But, like all Pixar’s output, it will charm and delight those who are in their seats and act as another reminder of the humble origins of one of the finest studios, live action or animated, working today.