Day & Night

Voices of: Wayne Dyer (archive sound)
Directed by: Teddy Newton
Rating: G
Genre: Animation, Short, Comedy
Length: 6 minutes
2010

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: The personifications of Day and Night clash when their differences become apparent, but soon learn to appreciate those differences.

Review:

Tim: I have to say that I mostly enjoyed the Pixar short, Day & Night. It's always a challenge for a short film to be memorable- feature films have significantly more time to make an impact. The challenge of a short film is to make a lasting impact in nearly no time at all. That absolutely happens in this film. I've thought about this short a number of times since watching it.

The first thing to address is the impressive visuals here. The short film took the novel approach of combining 2D and 3D animation. The characters of Day and Night are hand drawn, but the scenes inside of them are computer rendered. That creates a beautiful, unique animation style. This film looks beautiful and I was a big fan of this combined animation approach. It's entertaining to watch the day and night scenes depicted here and there's some stunning moments when the characters leap back and forth and the scenes inside them change rapidly. I couldn't imagine the animation detail it took to pull that off, but it looks stunning. Those were some of the best moments of the film.

Even better than the visuals is the story and the message it conveys. The story is really about accepting and celebrating the differences of others. It makes incredible use of archived sound from a speech Wayne Dyer gave in the 1970s. The message is that people fear the unknown, people fear things that are different. Instead, we must accept and appreciate the different and the mysterious. It's such a powerful lesson for life and it's weaved seamlessly into this animated short film. You have to applaud Teddy Newton. Think about what he did- he took an old recording of a lecture from the 1970s and used it in a short animated film about two beings who represent day and night, telling a powerful and memorable story about appreciating the differences of others instead of combating them. This probably shouldn't have worked, but it does.

Pixar has long been a trailblazer in the world of animation and this short film further adds to their legacy. I really enjoyed it and the message it delivers. It's a short that I will be thinking about for a long, long time.

* Update- Almost exactly a year after I watched Day & Night, I watched it again, this time with my five year-old son. It's funny, knowing what I knew about the movie (and what I wrote in my original review), I didn't focus on any of the technical aspects or the deeper meaning. I focused more on the entertainment value and what my son would think about it. Both were positive and it reinforces how good this short film is. While the first time I was struck by the layers and deeper meaning, this short also works as a funny little film about Night and Day coming to mutual understanding and appreciation of each other. My son was drawn in by the visuals and enjoyed the funny pratfalls and antics of these two characters. It was a fun, enjoyable experience for us.

This film is quite memorable- I still recalled nearly everything that happened, even a year later. The film holds up and is rewatchable. This is definitely one of Pixar's better shorts.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- N/A



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