LUXO JR.
Directed by John Lasseter
Directed by John Lasseter
Anyone who has seen a Pixar movie has seen the character Luxo Jr. He's the little lamp that takes the place of the “I” in the Pixar logo. He's also the title character in the first computer animated short film to be nominated for an Academy Award.
“Luxo Jr.” is about a Luxo-style lamp and his son, Luxo Jr. For those of you who can't visualize, the Luxo lamps are the standard desk lamps that pivot at the base, top, and midway of the neck. They're excellent desk lamps. Luxo Sr. watches as Luxo Jr. plays with a ball. They even play together a bit until Luxo Jr. accidentally breaks the ball. Not to be daunted, Luxo Jr. finds a new ball and the game continues. I apologize for giving away the whole plot, but the film is only two minutes long. It's hard to talk about the plot of a two minute movie without giving it all away. Wait until I review “Ben Hur” or “Return of the King”--Then I'll have plenty to talk about without giving it all away.
Even knowing the plot, “Luxo Jr.” is still a delight. The emotion that is able to be conveyed by two desk lamps is amazing. This movie is really a turning point in animation, opening the flood gates for all the CG-Animated movies that came after it. Not that every CG-Animated movie has been good ('Everybody's Hero'?) but the people at Pixar will not settle for anything less than amazing. I forget where I heard this, but someone once said that Pixar would rather have all their hard drives crash than turn out second-hand work. No need to worry here, because “Luxo Jr.” is definitely first-class.
“Luxo Jr” was produced by John Lasseter and William Reeves and they were nominated for Best Animated Short. They lost to the film “Een Griekse Tragedie”. The other nominee was “The Frog, the Dog, and the Devil”.
This review was written on June 14, 2008
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