Luxo Jr

Yes, this is the 1986 Pixar short which is more than just a historically significant artifact.

Hopefully no one minds me only having the motivation to review something 90 seconds long minus credits. Seeing a Letterboxd mutual noting they revisited the film earlier in the afternoon, my not having viewed anything Pixar in months, and the historical significance are good reasons for a review.

This is quite the achievement, factoring in the computing technology of the time. The animation is primitive (the items are on a wooden desk, the background is black) yet a story is still told via seeing Luxo, Sr. watching his son play w/ a multicolored ball, it accidentally deflating, then the concluding punchline… the short is successful in presenting a big desk lamp and a small desk lamp as sentient beings.

Luxo, Jr. sent shockwaves through the industry as its premiered at SIGGRAPH, a famous annual computer graphics conference; lore tells the crowd applauded SECONDS into the short. Besides being the first CG film nominated for an Academy Award, it was proven that a story can be told w/ objects that are inanimate in “the real world” when beforehand, they were glorified tech demos. I don’t need to elaborate on the rise of Pixar after they worked w/ Disney on various projects until Toy Story’s release then their great run until their purchase by Disney (where many said that led to the company’s downfall) or the rise of computer-animated feature films once computing processing improved to create such imagery.

I’m happy to have computer animation co-exist rather than replace traditional animation. All varieties of animation are worthy; last week I saw a trailer for the upcoming Laika film Wildwood, something I probably will view theatrically unless the buzz surrounding it is poor. In the future, more Pixar films will be viewed-I still haven’t seen some from their Golden Era, as appalling as that will be to many. I was happy to see the beginning of the company, the breathtaking leaps in computing power, and finally tackle the backstory behind the Luxo lamp part of the company’s logo.