Since the beautiful and visually mind-boggling 2023 animated feature film Elemental recently played in theatres for the first time along with its own short film, Carl’s Date, preceding it, we felt the need to take a turn and look back at some of the best Pixar animated short films. These short Pixar releases initially made their way into theatres to hold the audience back by offering them with an interesting treat before the actual show commenced.
Many of these titles under Pixar’s belt have been nominated for Academy Awards, and some of them have even taken the big prize home. While their animation techniques may not be as nuanced in all cases when compared to feature films produced under the same banner, they definitely offer some comforting concepts that have won over the audiences, sometimes even more than the succeeding main event. With that in mind, here’s a teeny list of original Pixar shorts that’ll leave you amused and in wonder of their art.
Best Pixar Animated Short Films
Bao (2018)
The 7 minute-long short film is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar, and it puts an old, ageing and lonely Chinese Canadian mother at the centre of its story. Once her child moves out, she misses being a mother, so to her surprise and relief, one of her buns becomes animate, and she’s granted a second go at motherhood. Releasing in 2018, before Incredibles 2, this Pixar short was the first of its kind to be directed by a woman.
Allegorically representing the coming of age of her actual son, the mother conflates the bun with her son’s identity and the different stages of his life, including their disagreements and whatnot. The movie is an emotional account of the relationship shared between a mother-son duo, as the former among them lives in denial about her son attaining adulthood and moving out of the house, thus, leaving her behind. Many viewers who caught this animation before the Incredibles sequel in the theatres, were moved to tears on how beautifully the whole exchange illustrated something bigger about human relationships. As a result, it also won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 91st edition of the award series.
Geri’s Game (1997)
Written and directed by Jan Pinkava, this computer animation features an elderly character, Geri and while it may be a commentary on how people are often abandoned to live alone by their families when they reach a certain old age, it’s also heartwarmingly fun to watch Geri’s antics as he continues to compete against himself in a chess match, again at a deserted park. This movie marked the beginning of something new. On accompanying the release of Bug’s Life, aka the second Pixar feature film, it set in stone the long established tradition of bringing out Pixar shorts with feature films.
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Pinkava was ultimately inspired by the vision of his own old grandfather and his friends who were particularly consumed by their love of chess and would often engage in solitary face-offs as portrayed in the film. As the whole thing progresses, the audience can easily forget how only one person has been playing the game all along, especially with the way the visuals and the direction pan out. There’s something eerily exciting about watching the old man at play.
Piper (2016)
Directed by Alan Barillaro, who was also involved in the production of Pixar features like WALL-E and Brave, the 2016 short film debuted before Finding Dory. With a hungry baby sandpiper as its main character, the Pixar short depicts her journey of overcoming the fear of water. Fleshed out as a charmingly beautiful tale of survival that was short yet succinct, the film was praised for its lifelike visuals. Take the classic Pixar magic, fuse it with verisimilitude, and you get the loving character of Piper. Despite it being a bird, somewhere deep down, we can all relate to her, which is why rooting for her success comes easy.
Lou (2017)
Premiering in front of Cars 3 in 2017, Lou is a play on the phrase “Lost and Found”, and so it’s about an unlikely monster living inside a lost-and-found box, placed in a kindergarten playground. The so-called creature ultimately came into being due to the coming together of all the things left behind in the box. Ironically the box that harbours it only misses three letters – L, O and U – which end up making a name for it.
Written and directed by Dave Mullins, the film portrays the unprecedented monster trying to get the children to claim their things. It eventually has to face off against the young bully JJ, who often steals stuff from the other kids. When Lou grabs the opportunity to take away JJ’s backpack, the whole scenario turns on it head and they form an alliance to help the other children find their belongings.
Ending on a sweet note, as the “monster” hiding in plain sight helps correct JJ’s moral compass, thus proving that bullies are never born, rather moulded out of their own circumstances. Once JJ fathoms the importance of giving, he learns a lot more which helps him shape up into a better version of himself.
Which of these Pixar shorts is closer to your heart? Let us know your picks in the comments section below.