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Whenever you head to the theater to check out the latest Pixar film, you know you’re in for a little pre-movie treat: the Pixar animated short. Whether they feature a bunch of squawking birds on a wire or a boundin’ jackelope, the shorts always offer cute characters and a laugh or two before the main feature begins. Now, for short film fans, Pixar is releasing 13 of their shorts together, on one DVD collection—so you can enjoy them all at home.
Starting with the very first Pixar short film, 1984’s groundbreaking The Adventures of André and Wally B., the first volume of the Pixar Short Films Collection serves up 13 Pixar short films. Some of them you’ve already seen—or at least you have if you’ve seen any of the Pixar films, like Cars, The Incredibles, or Ratatouille. Some of the films feature favorite Pixar characters—like Mater from Cars or Mike and Sully from Monsters, Inc.. And many of them are featured on other Pixar DVDs. But others—especially the early ones—are films you haven’t seen (unless, of course, you’ve been attending computer graphics trade shows for the last 20 years or so).
Included in the collection, there’s the Oscar-winning Red’s Dream, which tells the story of a unicycle who dreams of a world outside the bike shop. There’s also Tin Toy, Pixar’s first attempt at animating a human being. And, one of my personal favorites, Knick Knack is the story of a poor snowman who’s trying to escape his snow globe—so he can party with the other souvenir knick-knacks. The collection takes Pixar fans right up to Lifted, which ran before this summer’s Pixar release, Ratatouille.
These short films (which run from just seconds to up to around 10 minutes) make for a short collection—with a total runtime of less than an hour. But it’s fascinating to track the history of computer animation—to watch the gradual progression throughout the years. As the films progress, they become more detailed and more visually stunning, but all 13 films offer lovable characters, fun music, and entertaining little stories—usually with plenty of laughs. These imaginative little films are great for the kids—but the stunning animation and the creative stories make them just as entertaining for adults.
In addition to the short films, the Pixar Short Films DVD also offers commentary and a few Pixar extras, created for Sesame Street. There’s also a behind the scenes feature, called The Pixar Shorts: A Short History, which tells the story of Pixar and its popular short films. The feature explains why they started making short films—and why they always will. If you’re a fan of Pixar’s animation—or computer animation in general—you won’t want to miss this intriguing feature about a determined group of software designers and one animator who changed animation forever.
The first Pixar Short Films Collection is a great collection of stunning short films—and Pixar fans won’t want to miss it. If you already have most of the shorts on other Pixar DVDs, it may not be a must-buy, but the Pixar feature alone makes it worth checking out.
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