Pixar Short Films Collection, Vol. 1 [Blu-ray]

This is a charming collection of Pixar short films plus extras like a brief history of Pixar shorts, segments from Sesame Street and audio commentary. The films range from the very basic like Andre & Wally B from the early days, to the sophisticated like One Man Band, a filmette about 2 street musicians competing for a coin from a little girl in a European town square.

My favorites include Tin Toy in which a destructive baby goes on the rampage while the terrified toys cower under a couch and a drummer-boy toy tries to appease the little urchin, the uplifting Boundin' - the story of a sheep that suffered from depression after shearing until a jackalope comes by and brings out spectacular new talents in the sweet animal. This one has great country music and the story is a rhyming poem.

Jack-Jack Attack is the scary tale of a babysitter trying to control a weird baby who has supernatural powers, and in Knick Knack a snowman desperately tries to join the fun in the sun by attempting escape from his snow dome - the music here is especially charming. Another good one is Mater and the Ghostlight, a story of cars and trucks with a great country & western soundtrack.

I also enjoyed For the Birds, a simple story of little bluebirds who were nasty to a bigger, awkward bird and paid for it by losing their feathers, and Lifted, the story of an attempted UFO abduction that didn't quite work out because of the incompetence of the trainee abductor. Those who have seen Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles will probably not be too impressed, but I found the DVD highly entertaining and informative.

One of the many many things I have always admired about Pixar is their revival of the animated shorts before the main feature. These quick bites of deliciously funny stories always make me smile. And you can see the evolution of their craft along the way. Most entertaining. Most enlightening.

The Adventures Of Andre & Wally B
The earliest released Pixar short, a quick tale of a man being chased by a bee. Looks so crude today, but quite stunning in its time.

Luxo Jr
Big lamp plays ball with a smaller lamp. Their is so much expression exhibited by these two "characters", several human actors can learn from this mini.

Red's Dream
Incredibly more complex in art and story, Pixar really started stretching their legs here. Beginning with a dreary nighttime rainstorm, we move into a lonely bike shop and spy a unicycle in the corner, and peer into it's dream. Very moving.

Tin Toy
The precursor in so many ways to what we now know of as Toy Story. A toy is scared of a baby.

Knick Knack
Bobby McFerrin provides the quirky catchy music that plays along as we see a very determined Snowman trapped in a snowglobe attempt escape to be with a mermaid. Yes, that is right.

And after taking several years off from the shorts in order to concentrate on thier full length films, Pixar jumped back into the game with...

Geri's Game
An old man plays a death-defying game of chess. With himself. It is extremely noticeable the leaps and bounds Pixar has made here in terms of skill of rendering. And the story is great too!

Scoopriches

The last person to review this DVD indicated the Pixar Short Films were simply the shorts from Pixar's previous movies; however if they had read the box they would have known this was the case before purchasing the product and then complaining it was boring and repetitive.
I think it is great Pixar has combined all of these smart shorts onto one anthology DVD. These movies are clever, funny and creative. I have seen them several times and still appreciate them.
5 stars, hands-down; uplifting, cute and funny!