Red's Dream

Voices of: N/A
Directed by: John Lasseter
Rating: G
Genre: Animation, Short
Length: 4 minutes
1987

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A unicycle has a dream.

Review:

Tim: Red's Dream is the third short film to come out of Pixar, a year after the landmark Luxo Jr.. The quality of the computer animation obviously increased in less than a year, but the length of the film increased as well, doubling the length of the aforementioned film. I'd recommend watching the first three Pixar films in order, because it's amazing to see the advances in computer animation in a very short period of time. The animation here is clearly cutting edge for the late 1980s. No one had ever done what they accomplished here.

That being said, I felt like Red's Dream was more disjointed than Luxo Jr.. I just didn't like the short film as much. While doing some research, I saw that the animators combined three different ideas to make this short film- that explained a lot to me, as it accounted for this feeling more like a cobbled together story, rather than one told from a single vision. That's not a fatal flaw or anything, this film is still incredibly cool to see and is incredibly significant in the history of Pixar. It does mean that I liked this film less than the previous one in their catalogue. That being said, this is still a cute, heartfelt story- trademarks of Pixar that we'd all eventually learn.

This film tells a story, but it's really an example of what could be done with computer animation. It worked to change people's minds about this brand new technology and showcased what could be accomplished with it. For that reason, this film is worth seeing- it's an essential early example of something we all take for granted today. There have been so many truly beautiful computer animated films, it's enlightening to see these humble roots. If you're interested in this kind of thing, I'd certainly recommend Red's Dream.

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



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Adventures of Andre and Wally B., Luxo Jr.