Pixar's Sparkshorts

While looking into information on Toy Story 4 I stumbled upon Pixar's SparkShorts. This recent initiative allows those working in the animation industry to create short films using Pixar's resources and given creative freedom. Getting to see smaller projects made by lesser known talent is interesting and with the first three shorts already released on their Youtube channel it seems like now is a great time to check them out.

Purl (2019)

Background/Summary: Written and directed by Kristen Lester, the film follows Purl, a living ball of yarn, who enters a corporate, human male culture that initially alienates her.

Takeaways: While Pixar has juxtaposed realistic and cartoonish character designs in the past, most notably with Inside Out, Purl's constant interaction between the two styles is unique. It gave the short its own personality while easily keeping my interest. I could easily see Purl's unique visual style working in a feature-length film and hopefully it gets implemented into future productions.

Outside of visuals, the film's other major takeaway is its societal commentary. Many animated features focus on addressing universal themes while leaving any critiques on cultures as subtext which is not a bad move, but a more explicit commentary is welcome. Given the demographic of Pixar movies it would be surprising to see this element bleed into other productions though it can not be entirely ruled out.

Smash and Grab (2019)

Background/Summary: Industry veteran Brian Larsen, who has been working in animation since The Iron Giant, tells the tale of two underclass robots who want to break the chains that are preventing them from expressing their friendship.

Takeaways: It is hard not to get Wall-E vibes when watching Smash and Grab. From its dystopian setting to its silent robot protagonists this short seems to purposely invoke similar ideas and aesthetics of Pixar's past success. This is not necessarily a con since I love science fiction and seeing the studio explore that genre further is enticing, though it would be nice if future efforts distinguished themselves a bit more. Though this short is well-done and has heart it hues too closely to its predecessor. It comes off more as a distillation of Wall-E's themes then an expression of something uniquely its own

Kitbull (2019)

Background/ Summary: Kitbull, created by Rosanna Sullivan, is about the friendship that forms between a stray cat and an abused dog.

Takeaways: Besides 2010's Day & Night, the short film that was shown before Toy Story 3, I can not think of many prior example of Pixar exploring 2D animation. This makes Kitbull stand out as it sport a beautiful animation and a lovely art style. Its hand-drawn look imbues everything with personality and charm with designs like the kitten's looking like soemthing from a Studio Ghibli production. Pixar posted a video that showcased how the short was made and the process they used is fascinating as they used 3D modeling to layout the scenes before drawing over and animating it.

Theatrical 2D animation has been out of favor for years due to various reasons but Kitbull's smart production strategy presents a possible future for them to come back. Pixar has shown its capability of making 2D animation that looks amazing and after the massive financial success of The Incredibles 2 the studio has enough clout and earnings to take such a potentially risky venture.

Final Thoughts

The SparkShorts initiative is being more experimental than I thought it would be which is great. Each one seems to have a healthy budget so Pixar's desire to facilitate creative expression seems genuine. While Smash and Grab may have may have been too similar to Wall-E for my taste all three shorts were enjoyable and worth a watch. More shorts are going to be released in the coming weeks so there is a lot to look forward too.