Film #156 - The Adventures of André and Wally B. (1984)
Viewed June 5, 2006
As I continue my quest to watch all the Pixar work I had not yet seen, I finally watched the proto-Pixar film The Adventures of André and Wally B. It was made by the Lucasfilm Computer Graphics Project on a computer that Cray let them borrow in hopes that Lucasfilm would buy some. (They didn’t.) Eventually the Computer Graphics Project became the Pixar Group before being sold to Steve Jobs for a paltry $5 Million (or $10M, depending on who you want to believe). So that makes The Adventures of André and Wally B. the first “Pixar film”. Many key people in Pixar’s history worked on this, most significantly John Lasseter (or as he will be known hereafter, The Great and Powerful Savior of Animation).
Anyway, André is only about two minutes long, but it was very impressive for its time. The use of realistic character movements and “springy” polygons had previously been virtually impossible. And it must be said that much of the eventual Pixar philosophy was already in place, as none of the film seems to skimp or cheat to make things easier. Everything, including a huge, dense forest, is fully rendered. And even though it all looks a bit simplistic compared to the visuals in a modern Pixar film, it doesn’t suffer from looking dated; it still plays.
At roughly two minutes, there’s little room for a real story, but the slight narrative is conveyed effectively and amusingly. The characters of André and Wally B. (a bee) are established with ease, showing the attention to personality that would define later Pixar films. They interact with each other onscreen for only a moment, but it is marked by real chemistry, which many film makers today still can’t achieve properly.
Okay, I’ve said it more times than necessary: The Adventures of André and Wally B. is only two minutes long. At that run time, there’s no reason not to watch it at least once, no matter who you are. Everyone should be able to find it at least mildly amusing, but those who really love animation (and CGI in particular) will find a fascinating peek at the CGI world of yesteryear and significant signs as to where it would all lead.