Disney Pixar’s animated feature The Good Dinosaur, which opens on November 27, will be preceded by a seven-minute short film by American animator Sanjay Patel titled Sanjay’s Super Team. Here’s the trailer.
Pixar kick-started a tradition of attaching short films to its movies with its second production, A Bug’s Life, in 1998. Apart from enhancing the main feature, these shorts also serve as indicators of future talent, since quite a few of their directors go on to make full-length features later. Pixar’s most recent hit, Inside Out, was accompanied by Lava, the heart-tugging story of the love between two volcanoes.
Here are three of our favourite short films from the Pixar stable.
La Luna
This Oscar nominated-short was released with Brave in 2011.
A young boy’s coming of age is a spectacular visual affair. The boy helps his family in its unusual line of work — sweeping shooting stars from the surface of the moon. He struggles to cope with familial tradition and tries to carve out his own niche on the first day of the job. Director Enrico Casarosa drew inspiration from his Italian family for the story.
Partly Cloudy
This meditation on where babies come from was released in theatres in 2009 with Up.
Clouds are god-like creatures that manufacture adorable baby animals, which are carried by storks to their new homes. But one cloud isn’t quite well versed with the concept of cuteness. He ends making some of nature’s most grotesque baby animals, much to the horror of his stork. Director Peter Sohnmanages, who has directed The Good Dinosaur, touches the right emotional chord with a flawless story and big laughs.
Presto
Never mess with someone when he or she is hungry.
This short, released with WALL-E in 2008, explores the relationship between a temperamental magician, Presto, and his un-cooperative rabbit companion, Alec. Presto wants to entertain the crowd with magic tricks but Alec will have none of it until he gets his carrot. Director Doug Sweetland mixes the right doses of slapstick with emotions. Sweetland is co-directing the upcoming Pixar feature film, Storks.