Pixar & Disney Film Shorts: General Discussion

We have a general thread for Disney and Pixar feature films, television shows, princesses and games but not one for their theatrical / dvd short films. Given that the Shorts program is a place for new animation directors to shine, I'd like to start one.

To differentiate this from other Disney General threads, let's keep discussion specific to short films and their directors. For instance, Sanjay's Super Team is the next upcoming PIXAR short, the first one to explore Hindu Gods in theatrical animation.

I'm curious about what the reaction to this one will be. Hinduism is actually one of the World's major religions; seeing its deities reinterpreted as superheroes would be interesting for some but offensive for others (note however, that this has *already* been done in some movies and comics in India). Though I think the actual point of Sanjay's Super Team is for the Father and Son to find some common ground in their interests, which is an universal theme.

edited 25th Oct '15 7:39:23 PM by Sijo

My only problem with the short so far is the character designs seem to be somewhat... racially stereotypical. And I'm not normally one to get hung over this kind of things.

I wondered about that too. Keep in mind thought that the author is Hindu himself and this is in fact based on his childhood. Maybe he just wanted to see himself as a cartoon?

I just watched through the collection of shorts they put up on Netflix. My favorite from them is a hard pick, though probably between John Henry, The Little Matchstick Girl, and Get a Horse.

I liked the Goofy How to Short, it's not my favorite of them, but Goofy is my favorite of the classic Disney cast and those short are my favorite style of Goofy short.

My least favorite is probably Tangled Ever After. The comedy doesn't really feel Tangled specific and I don't think focusing on the animal sidekicks was the best choice. I think Frozen Fever did a much better job of being a light follow up to a film because it was still focused on the principal characters.

The Sanjay designs are more stylized than most Pixar fare, but they're not stereotypical. The director himself has quite the schnozz◊, and Pixar is no stranger to big-nosed gents.◊ If he's directing it himself, surely he approved what's onscreen.

edited 25th Oct '15 11:02:53 PM by Tuckerscreator

The director himself is Indian.

Therin lies a perpetual problem; it's one thing for a cultural insider to lampoon physical features of his/her own race, but quite another for an outsider to do it. One can see how it might genuinely cause some confusion ("I just thought it was acceptable as a caricature") even though it's not really all that hard to maintain cultural sensitivity. I mean, suppose every time an Indian cartoonist portrayed an Englishman, he was an anemic tea-swilling, monocled Bertie Wooster? Or an American as a big-bellied, Elmer Fudd-hatted redneck?

So you're saying it's *never* acceptable to do cultural caricatures? Because those have always existed, in all cultures, for good and ill, and likely will continue. I'm reminded of how Americans thought Speedy Gonzales was offensive to Mexicans, when in fact he wasn't. Personally, as long as it's a balanced approach- that is, that most projects do not show EVERYONE in a certain group is a certain way- I'm not very concerned.

I'm not saying it's "never acceptable" only that it's really tricky. The African-American stereotypes present in Warner Bros. "Censored 11" cartoons were not ill intended and were, according tho the likes of Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, and Bob Clampett, just how you caricatured African-American folks at the time. Most of those (rightly) strike us as terribly offensive today, but the animators are probably being absolutely sincere in characterizing their own motives. "Coal Black and de Sebbin Dwarfs" was even screened for a number of African American WB employees (mostly musicians) in an express attempt by the director to make sure it wasn't racist. They gave it a pass, but looking at it now, it's definitely pretty offensive.

I don't say it can't be done, but, as you say, it's a fine line to walk.

By that same line of thinking, works that are appreciated for being progressive today (like greater emphasis on LGBT characters) were considered totally unacceptable once. If we worried constantly about what future generations will think about our productions, nothing would ever get done.

No, we should always keep the future in mind and be ahead of our time.

Except we can't predict the future. For all we know, there could be a successful anti-gay movement in the future and all this progress would be lost. All I'm saying is, we need to work according to the present, not judge according to what might one day be.

So I just got the Short Films Collection and I liked all of the shorts. I really enjoyed the variety between funny shorts, heartwarming shorts, and tear-jerking shorts, as well as all of the different styles in animation and writing. I put together a tentative ranking:

1. The Ballad of Nessie: See my sig. That is all. Additionally, I liked the quirky background elements like the rubber duck and the fact that Nessie lost her pond to a golf course. Ending was worth the price of admission alone.
2. How to Hook Up Your Home Theater: Okay, first of all it's a how-to Goofy short which makes it an automatic win, but it was also on a topic I found relatable enough to say "so true" to many times as well as laughing out loud.
3. Frozen Fever: I thought it was a cute follow-up to the movie. I was happy to see all of the characters again! (And Hans' cameo had me guffawing). I liked the song too, and Kristoff was endearingly adorkable. It also made me happy to see Elsa try so hard to make things up to Anna here.
4. Feast: I love the story progression for the humans and Winston's eventual selfless behavior as well as the animation
5. Get a Horse: Experimental format? Fun. Surrounding what is essentially a Pete torture short? Epic fun considering he is my absolute favorite character to see in that kind of plot (though apparently Hans is fun too, see above).
6. Paperman: Simple adorable heartwarming love story in an interesting animation style. What's not to like?
7. The Little Match Girl: I definitely give this one props for not sugarcoating anything even though the story is definitely a huge relentless Tear Jerker. I also really liked the fantasy animation.
8. Lorenzo: I just loved the concept and thought they did a really good job pulling it off, plus I could laugh at Lorenzo's misery because it was his own fault in the first place.
9. Prep and Landing: Operation: Secret Santa: I thought this one was similar to Arthur Christmas mythology which was fun enough as it was, but Betty White as Mrs. Claus made it even better.
10. Tick Tock Tale: I really liked the ending of this one because it reminded me of The Brave Little Toaster's ending, but I felt like it took a while to pick up.
11. John Henry: It was a good retelling of the tale and I really liked the animation.
12. Tangled Ever After: I thought it was fairly entertaining and funny, but ultimately not super-interesting.

I hadn't seen any of the shorts before I got the collection except for Paperman, Get a Horse, and Feast.