Luxo Jr.
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 2014. | ||
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"In 1986 Pixar Animation Studios produced its first film. This is why we have a hopping lamp in our logo."
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Luxo Jr. is a 1986 American computer-animated short film produced and released by Pixar in 1986. Written and directed by John Lasseter, it was Pixar's first animation after Ed Catmull and John Lasseter left Industrial Light & Magic's computer division of Cinetron Computer Systems. The film is the source of Luxo Jr., who later became the mascot of Pixar.
Plot
Luxo Sr, a big illuminated desk lamp, sees a yellow ball roll up to him and pushes it away. When it comes back to him, he realizes that Luxo Jr, his son, wants to use it to play with him. When, he accidently popped the ball, Luxo Jr. decided to play the beach ball.
Why It Deserves A Great Ball
- It is the second Pixar short film, that has nice looking CGI graphics in 1980s standards, just nine years before Toy Story was released.
- The soundtrack is pretty good, who played on the piano by Brian Bennett.
- It introduced Luxo Jr. as the character who later became the mascot for Pixar (albeit without the cord and much lighter looking).
- Luxo Jr. is pretty likable, funny and cute. He really likes to play with his dad by chasing the ball.
- Nice short plot, which is a good start for any CGI animated film.
- The sound effects are clever, especially the Luxo Jr's hopping sound.
- There is also a emotion impact, especially the Pixar short film standards.
- The iconic Pixar ball, who would become famous easter eggs for other Pixar movies as well as non-Pixar movies.
The Only Bad Quality
- The where Luxo Sr. gently admonishes Luxo Jr. is a little mean-spirited.
Reception
Luxo Jr. received critical acclaim for its photorealistic style and emotional impact.
Trivia
- Ultimately, the film took four and a half months to be completed.
- Lasseter's student film at CalArts, The Lady and the Lamp (1979), applied Walt Disney's observation that giving lifelike qualities to inanimate objects held comic potential. Luxo Jr. displayed a further insight, however: that inanimate objects as characters held the potential for dramatic value as well. The film would come from Lasseter's experiments with modeling his Luxo lamp. He had felt an inspiration strike when fellow employee Tom Porter brought his infant son Spencer to work one day and Lasseter, playing with the child, became fascinated with his proportions. A baby's head was huge compared with the rest of its body, Lasseter realized. It struck Lasseter as humorous and he began to wonder what a young lamp would look like. He fiddled with the dimensions of all the parts of his Luxo model—all but the bulb since lightbulbs come from a store and don't grow, he reasoned—and he emerged with a second character, Luxo Jr.
- John Lasseter would later directed Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Cars and Cars 2 as feature film from Pixar.